Namikaze
by Fhane
Summary: Minato sealed a part of his and Kushina's chakra and soul into Naruto. What he didn't take into account was the unforseen effects it would have on the boy, should the seal not be complete. No pairings as of yet, No bashing. Rated M because I swear alot. Contains spoilers right from the start so be aware. StrongNaruto SmartNaruto
1. Prologue

**Disclamer: I do not own Naruto or any other elements.**

 **Namikaze**

 **Prologue**

Namikaze Minato was a man with experience in both war and love. He had faced armies of soldiers and never once had he flinched. He was considered to be the most powerful shinobi in Konohagakure, and even became the leader of said village and was also so feared by the enemy villages that they put a Flee on Sight order on him in order to keep their soldiers alive.

He had married a young beautiful woman with long crimson red hair by the name of Uzumaki Kushina who was the jailor of the most powerful being that walked the Nations of the Elements: Kyuubi no Kitsune. Said woman became his sole child's mother, but it was not meant to be.

Uchiha Obito, Minato's former student who was presumed dead, disrupted the birth of the young boy under the disguise of an unknown enemy and forced Minato to either save his wife or his son. He chose the only option any father would, and saved his son by using his fabled Hiraishin no Jutsu to catch the son as Obito threw him up in the air, only to find out that Obito had put explosive tags on the blanket that was wrapped around the infant. Minato had teleported back to his home to secure his son, and to get ready for the upcoming battle.

During the small amount of time that Minato was gone, Obito had bound Kushina with chains in a crucified manner between two trees, and used his Sharingan to take control of the beast inside of her and release it. She survived the extraction but Obito had other plans. He decided that if she could survive the release of a bijuu from her body, then he had no choice but to kill her. He ordered the monstrosity that is the Kyuubi to kill her, but just as his claw descended onto her, Minato was there to save her. He quickly teleported back to his house to put her down next to Naruto.

During this time, Obito had used Kamui to move himself into Konoha, and summoned the Kyuubi with the Kuchiyose no Jutsu in the middle of the city. The shinobi and kunoichi alike became horrified at the sight of the beast, but they held their ground.

Sarutobi Hiruzen arrived shortly after at the top of the Hokage Tower and started fighting the beast with the help of Enma, his personal summon and all of the shinobi and kunoichi that wasnt under the age of fourteen. These children had to be protected for the sake of the village and its future.

In the meantime, Minato had teleported on top of the mountain that harbored the faces of the four Hokage that in history had led the village. The beast sensed him, and charged his attack, the Bijuudama right at Minato. The young Hokage countered it by creating a space/time vortex that devoured the ball of condensed chakra, only to release its power a couple of miles away from the village where Minato had one of his tri-pronged kunai.

Just as he had sent the attack away, he sensed Obito behind him, and swung the kunai he had in hand at him, only to have it pass right through the masked enemy. Just as his hand and kunai had passed through Obito, he was grabbed, and started to become distorted by a time/space vortex much like the defensive barrier that he had used only a couple of seconds ago. He understood what this was, a Jikūkan Ninjutsu.

He quickly used Hiraishin to get away from the horrifying situation that he was put in, only to be followed by his former student. Minato was scared shitless. Not many people had the power and knowledge to use Jikūkan Ninjutsu, especially not something that surpassed his own.

Minato decided to go straight at him, only to go through him and get encased by a chain, which he quickly teleported out from. He thought for few seconds, before charging straight at Obito with a Rasengan in his hand, while throwing the kunai he had in his other hand straight at his head. It passed right through him, but just as Obito was going to grab him again to teleport the Hokage away, the blonde vanished.

Obito then felt a horrifying pain in his back, which was the result of the Rasengan that Minato had smashed into him. When Minato removed his hand from Obito's back, a Jutsu-Shiki could be seen lingering along Obito's back. Obito knew that he couldn't stay down for long, and quickly got up and jumped onto a wooden stump. Obito thought he had won, but his victory was short as Minato suddenly was in his face with his hand pressed at his stomach with a Summoning-disruption technique being used. The Kyuubi was no longer under Obito's control.

Obito quickly retreated, and Minato knew that he couldn't pursue the masked man, so he decided to teleport into the city and summon Gamabunta to hold Kyuubi down. He then teleported himself and the beast away, and quickly created a kagebunshin to get his wife and his son.

Minato knew that there was only one way to keep the village safe, and that was to seal the beast into someone. And that someone would be his son. Kushina protested, saying that she should be the one that it was going to be sealed in. They both knew however that she would never survive the sealing a second time as she was too exhausted and her life-force was drained from the extraction.

Minato started preparing for the sealing ceremony while Kushina quickly put up a barrier to keep the Kyuubi from running away, and then used her Chakra Chains to keep him still.

Minato performed the Shiki-Fuuin, a technique that summoned the Reaper itself to perform the sealing, at the cost of his life. Minato knew this was the only seal in his possession that was going to be able to keep the beast from being released. He quickly sealed half the Chakra into his son, but before he could seal the rest into himself, Kyuubi lashed out at the boy.

Both Kushina and Minato caught the claw with their bodies, impaling them both. They now knew that they were both going to die, so they decided to tell their goodbyes to their child. Minato performed the seal, and not only sealed the rest of the Kyuubi inside of himself but also added a second layer onto the seal that was on his son, this time with some of his own and his wife's chakra and a part of their souls. Seconds later they both passed away….

 **Not knowing what side effects his imprint would have on his son.**

* * *

 **A/N:** Hi guys, its been a while! Sorry I haven't uploaded anything but I have been sitting here with a shit ton of things to do including homework and things like that! This is the first chapter of a story that I have been brainstorming on for quite some time and I have decided that I will keep as many things as I can from you guys because... well, SUSPENSE YO! :D

Again, I'm sorry for the inactivity that I've had for the past years but I can assure you that I have been on this sight during all that time, I just haven't been uploading anything. I also have no clue how long this fanfiction will be because at the time of writing this, I have just written the prologue, which is more or less a transcript of what happened in the manga/anime... with a little twist at the end ;)


	2. Chapter 1

**Disclamer: I do not own Naruto or any other elements.**

 **Namikaze**

 **Chapter 1**

There had been a flaw in Minato's seal. A major one. The seal was designed to siphon Kyuubi's chakra into his son's chakra coils so that he would in the future be able to use it to defend himself, and the part where both his own and Kushina's chakra and soul resided was not supposed to do that, but it did.

Throughout the first six years of this boy's life, he was given memories in the form of dreams of his parents. He had knowledge of things that he shouldn't, and he would constantly get headaches from the overflowing data that was transferred to his brain by the seal. His personality was slowly becoming more and more like his father, but he still retained the mischievous traits that his mother had.

Because of this flaw, the boy was a literal genius. His mind worked like no other, and he calculated everything with extreme precision. Things that would take months, if not years to learn, was learned on the first try, as if he already knew it. The knowledge, memories and therefore the experience that his parents had mistakenly fused into him had turned him into a strong individual already at the age of six.

He was seen as an intelligent being and even though he was unnaturally mature for his age he was still a bit childish and would pull pranks on somewhat random victims. His pranks were obviously not dangerous in any form, but he made sure that no-one knew it was him by getting out fast. Rumors said that whoever did these acts was a master of stealth and a genius in terms of traps.

He was secretive though, as not even the Sandaime Hokage had any knowledge of what had happened. He made sure that no one knew about it, and had even set up seals in the apartment he was given by the Hokage to keep intruders away from it. The Hokage also made sure that no-one knew about the boy's jinchuriki status, and because of that the boy had lived a somewhat normal life.

He hadn't lived the life that his parents would've wanted for him, and he knew that. He did however have friends and he wasn't as hated or feared as a jinchuriki usually is. No, he was just left alone because the Hokage didn't know what to do with him, but the boy had asked him if he could live alone in an apartment. And why would the Hokage say no to that? He had ANBU watching over the boy from the shadows and he knew that he would be safe.

The Sandaime Hokage knew what this boy had been doing when the ANBU couldn't find him. He knew that something was up but he didn't know what it was. He had seen the boy create seals, train techniques he shouldn't know. But he wasn't going to stop this boy, because the village needed him. They needed a force that would be strong enough to defend the village against the outside threat, and if this boy needed help in training then he would give it to him.

This boy's name is Uzumaki Naruto, and this is the start of his tale!

* * *

Six years after the incident

* * *

Uzumaki Naruto woke up with a big smile on his face. Today was the first day at the academy. Even though he had been excited for the whole week he had been able to sleep without any problem and woke up with the energy that everyone knew he had. The hyperactive trouble-making genius stood up at a length of 4 feet, which could be considered tall for his age. He looked at the clock and saw that it was 7am.

"Well, at least I won't be late." he said, as he went over to the bathroom and took a shower. Five minutes later he came back into his bedroom and got dressed. He put on a black T-shirt with a swirl on its back, and a pair of black short-pants that went down to his ankles. He then went to the kitchen and got himself some cereal, milk and an apple to eat for breakfast.

Contrary to popular beliefs, Naruto actually ate healthy. He only ate ramen from time to time because it was his favorite dish and he knew that it wasn't that bad as he was burning the carbs with the training he was doing, which would be considered an unhealthy form of training for someone so young. He didn't care though, he wanted to become strong enough to protect his precious people and to do that he needed to train; hard.

After he had eaten his breakfast he made his way to the grocery store on the other side of the road. Naruto was apparently the first customer of the day and he was greeted by the clerk. "Hello Naruto-kun how are you today?" The clerk asked with a cheerful smile on his face, to which Naruto replied with "Hi Tetsu-jiji, I am fine! How are you?" he asked before taking a cart to put his groceries in.

"I am fine and I thank you for asking, young man!" the clerk, Tetsu replied before Naruto made his way to the vegetables and picked up some carrots, apples and paprika before getting some noodle packages and then going to the clerk to pay for the groceries. "That will be 150 Ryo" Tetsu said, and Naruto paid him before waving goodbye and went back home to put the groceries on the shelves and in the fridge.

After that he went to the Hokage tower where he met up with the Hokage himself, who was the person to enroll him into the academy. Throughout this whole day Naruto had not stopped smiling. He was really excited about starting school and he really wanted to become a ninja so that he could become even stronger and help people in need.

"Hi Ji-chan!" Naruto said running towards the old man before giving him a hug, which was returned by Hiruzen. They then started walking towards the academy and while doing so they held a little conversation.

"So, Naruto-kun, are you excited for today?" The old man asked, to which Naruto replied with "Yeah I'm really excited! I can't wait to meet all my classmates and my teachers! And just you wait, I will become a ninja in no time!"

This made the Hokage chuckle a little bit, knowing that Naruto was stronger than what he let on. He knew that Naruto was hiding something but he couldn't pinpoint what he was hiding, to be exact. But he also knew that Naruto wasn't going to show him right away, because they both had secrets, and some of those secrets involved Naruto.

The first day at the academy wasn't going to be long, and Naruto knew that. The old man had told him that he would only be there for a couple of hours so that he could talk to his new classmates and get some of the books that they were going to be reading for the first few months.

When they got to the academy people looked at their direction. Everyone bowed towards the Hokage, but Naruto didn't realize that and started blushing at the amount of respect that was directed towards him and the Hokage. It didn't matter if he had the memories of his parents in his head, or the experience that they had: this was slightly embarrassing for a six year-old.

The day went on as anyone would expect it would. Naruto made some new friends by the names of Nara Shikamaru and Akamichi Chouji. He found the first one to be rather amusing in the way that he would consider everything but sleeping and cloud gazing to be troublesome. Chouji however was a really energetic child who ate a lot, but Naruto didn't mind as Chouji shared his snacks with him.

He also got acquainted with a few more people, by the name of Uchiha Sasuke, Inuzuka Kiba and Hyuuga Hinata. He thought that Hinata was really shy and blushed a lot. Sasuke on the other hand was almost as energetic as Chouji was but tried to act cool and level-headed as he was from the prominent Uchiha Clan. Kiba on the other hand was a brash, clumsy loudmouth who made a fool of himself more times than Naruto could count. All in all, it had been a fun day but after eating lunch with his classmates Naruto decided it was time to train, so he went to one of the training grounds to see if it was free, which it was. He had left a kagebunshin in his home to keep himself from caught doing high-level ninjutsu by the Hokage.

This is what he would be doing for the next few weeks. Train to the point of exhaustion before teleporting back to his apartment where his clone was residing, reading up and doing the homework that Naruto had been given. He would then eat his dinner and go to the shower before going off to bed so that he would be able to train another day.

* * *

A month later

* * *

Naruto was making his way home from the training field. He had trained a little bit less this day because he had a feeling that something bad was going to happen. He was walking down the road where the Hyuuga Compound was, when he saw a man with a foreign headband on his head run with something in his arms. Naruto immediately thought something was fishy, and decided to follow the man. He masked his chakra and tailed him for several blocks before seeing what he was holding: a child.

Naruto knew what this was. A kidnapping. He knew he had to stop the man from getting away with the child and decided to confront him by jumping right in front of him, which frightened the man for a second before realizing it was just a child that was standing right in front of him.

"And what are you doing here, brat?" the man asked with a slightly sadistic smile on his face to which Naruto only replied in a tone that made the man shiver slightly "To stop you." This made the man nervous. He had never seen a child behave like this, to speak with such a cold tone. It was almost unheard of.

Naruto decided that he had no time to talk, and went all out, throwing a kunai that had a bit of cloth wrapped around it with a seal the man had never seen before. The man just thought "Is this child throwing an explosive kunai at me?" and decided to dodge it while running towards him. What happened next was something the man did not see coming: the boy vanished, and suddenly he felt a pain in his shoulder.

'FUCK, this brat is fast. How the hell did he wound me this much?!' the man thought as he accidentally dropped the child and the blanket he held. The child in it stuck her head out and Naruto finally saw who it was: Hyuuga Hinata.

This made Naruto angry. Someone had just tried to abduct Hinata and the only explanation he could think of was that it was because she had an unsealed byakugan, as she was a member of the main household. Naruto knew that he could not fight this man while being angry. He had jumped away from the man after he had stabbed him in the shoulder. He knew that he needed to get Hinata away from the man before doing something about her kidnapper so he threw the kunai towards the side of her head, caught it, dropped it on the ground, grabbed her and vanished.

He laid her down on his bed and said "I will not let anyone harm you Hinata. I will be back in a few moments." before kissing her on the forehead, which gave her a major blush, before he vanished. He appeared at the kunai again only to be kicked in the stomach and sent into the wall behind him.

"So, that's your trick, huh? You use a fuin no shunshin to jump to the target? That's something else brat, but you forget one thing: I AM A CHUUNIN AND YOU ARE JUST A CHILD!" exclaimed the man as he charged towards him.

Naruto quickly regained himself before seeing the man charge at him. He knew that he couldn't hold back against this man, but he also knew that his repertoire of ninjutsu wasn't that big. He had only managed to recreate the Hiraishin no Jutsu and needed more time to create other techniques.

He quickly got up and dodged the man's kick that he was sending towards him, and went into a defensive stance and dodged as many attacks as the man sent towards him as he could. He knew that he couldn't keep this up for much longer, he was already exhausted from the training and he knew for a fact that it was only a matter of time before the adrenaline in his body would run out.

After several attacks had landed, Naruto was on the ground. Even with the knowledge his father and mother had given him, he couldn't do anything against this man. He didn't have the combat seals that he had created, they were at home. In the heat of the moment he had forgotten them and the man had gone into close combat to seal the deal.

Just as the man was about to deliver the final blow to Naruto in the form of a kunai to his throat, the man suddenly fell over him, dead. What he saw next surprised him: in front of him stood Hyuuga Hiashi, the Clan Head of the Hyuuga Family.

"Where is my daughter?" he asked with a stern look, which frightened the exhausted Uzumaki. Naruto could only reply "She's at my apartment" before passing out. Hiashi sighed, and pulled Naruto up and carried him over his shoulder to the boy's apartment and was surprised when he saw that Hinata was lying there on the bed, sleeping peacefully.

This made Hiashi glad. His eldest daughter was alive and well and there was no indication that she was harmed. He knew that the boy would be fine, but was surprised when he saw that there were not only one holster for kunai next to the bed. There were four, and all of the hilts had seals on them. Hiashi took a closer look at the seal and his eyes widened as it dawned on him: this was the Jutsu Shiki for Hiraishin no Jutsu.

'This boy is powerful. Very powerful for his age… It also seems that he's trying to keep it a secret from everyone, including the Hokage as we have not heard anything about him being able to use an S-rank technique that was thought to be lost after the fourth hokage's demise.' Hiashi thought. 'Do not worry Naruto, I will keep this a secret of yours just that: a secret. I just hope that you will keep my Hinata out of danger like you did tonight, Naruto-kun."

With that he placed Naruto on the other side of the king-sized bed that was in the bedroom, and picked up his daughter before carefully walking out of the apartment not wanting to be caught in one of the traps that he had seen with his byakugan.

'Become strong, Naruto. Become strong and make your parents proud. I know I already am.' was the last thing Hiashi thought before he vanished from Naruto's apartment in a Konoha no Shunshin.

* * *

AN: Hi guys, Fhane here with a second upload. I decided to write another chapter because I grew incredibly bored! so here ya go!


	3. Chapter 2

**Disclamer: I do not own Naruto or any other elements.**

AN: Heyo! Just to clear some things up a little quick. It is obvious that people are thinking "why a chuunin? It was an S-rank mission by Kumo so why would a chuunin do it? Well, it really depends on what kind of skills the ninja has, and what he or she is specialized in. in this case, it was obviously stealth. He wasn't however ready for Naruto who obviously has the capabilities of stealth that not many possess.

Also, I'm updating this extremely fast because my ideas for this fanfiction is literally pouring out onto my keyboard as I'm writing it :D

Now, let's get on with the next chapter, shall we? ^^,

 **Namikaze**

 **chapter 2**

* * *

Naruto woke up with a headache. A huge one. His body was also aching like mad. He didn't have any wounds or anything, it was just aching from the beating he had been given from the foreign man that had kidnapped Hinata.

'HINATA!' He thought as his mind started racing. He looked at the other side of the bed and saw nothing. He jumped out of the window and jumped up on the roof of the other side of the road before taking of in a speed that not many could track, even though his body was in such a bad state.

He didn't care if the ANBU that was guarding him saw him run. All eh could think about was the fact that Hinata wasn't where he left her. What if she had been kidnapped again? What if she was in trouble?

He sped through the village towards the Hyuuga Compound and ran so fast, that the guards barely saw him move. They yelled at him but he didn't care, he needed to talk to Hiashi about what happened last night. He quickly got to the main household and saw Hiashi paint on a canvas.

"Hiashi-sama!" Naruto exclaimed, to which Hiashi turned in surprise towards, before replying "Ah hello Naruto-san, what are you doing here?" in any other situation, Hiashi would've scolded a person who would just run into his compound uninvited. But he was expecting Naruto after what happened the day before. Just not this soon.

"Where's Hinata?!" Naruto asked, before Hiashi smiled and said "She's fine. She's in her bed and I have to thank you for what you did yesterday. Without you I would have lost her. You have my gratitude, Naruto-san."

"Is she okay? That's great!" Naruto sighed in a relieving manner before looking at Hiashi with a serious look and saying "What happened yesterday must remain a secret. I do not want anyone to know what I'm capable of." to which the Clan Head nodded at before replying "Yes, I figured you would say that. If it comes up I will say that I was the one who killed the Kumo nin."

This was even more of a relief to Naruto. His cover wasn't completely blown. Then he heard "kumo nin" and had a deja-vu: his mother had been kidnapped by Kumo only to be rescued by his father. He smiled at Hiashi before bowing at him while saying "Thank you for your time, Hiashi-Sama. I must take my leave now." before running off at the same speed as he came with.

Hiashi only had one thought in his mind: 'You will become strong… Your parents would be proud of you… Naruto.'

* * *

With Naruto

* * *

Naruto had many things racing through his mind now. Had anyone seen him use Hiraishin no Jutsu? Had anyone seen him use his father's taijutsu? He knew that it was bad. If he got caught, who knew what would happen. No one knew what he was capable of, except for Hiashi who had seen it firsthand. He decided to not think about it as he rounded a corner into a dark alley before vanishing from sight in the form of Hiraishin no Jutsu to his home.

He landed at home and undressed himself before taking a shower. Almost an hour later he got out and had put on a fresh set of clothes. He then realized something: what happened the night before was a dejavu experience. His father had done almost the exact same thing, minus getting his ass handed to him by the enemy. His father had also saved a girl from Kumo nin and that girl had turned out to be his love of his life. He blushed a little, as he did not think that Hinata thought of him that way. 'The only reason she's blushing so much is because she's so shy, right?' he thought.

He heard the doorbell. He quickly went to open and was surprised to see that it was Hinata with a cadet branch guard.

"Hey hinata-chan! How are you?" Naruto asked, to which Hinata blushed at and fiddled with her fingers while saying "I-I'm fine..." to which Naruto smiled at and asked "Do you want to come in?"

"N-no, I a-am o-only here t-to s-say t-thank you for w-what y-you d-did l-last n-night.." she muttered in a volume that only he heard. He smiled and said "It wasn't a problem at all! I hope you're feeling fine though." the last part made her blush and tried to bury her head in her jacket, before the guard said in a polite manner "We have to leave now, thank you for your time Naruto-sama. I hope you have a good day." before leaving with the young girl.

Naruto could only sigh. It was Saturday and normally he would train his ass off and let his body rest the day after. But it felt like he didn't need to because his body was already aching from the night before. So he decided to take it slow and went back in, crashed on the couch and slept on it for a few hours.

Later that day

Naruto woke up, feeling better. His body was however still sore, but not as sore as it was when he woke up during the morning. He looked around, and decided to go out and eat at Ichiraku's Ramen Stand. He made his way towards there and said "Hey Teuchi-jisan! I'd like a miso ramen, please!" to which the old man smiled and said "Hey Naruto-kun! Yes it's coming right up! Hey, Ayame, Naruto's here!"

Ayame, a young teenager, came out from the storage room with a cheerful smile plastered onto her face and said "Hi Naruto-kun how are you today?" to which Naruto replied with an equally cheerful smile "I'm fine, I am however a little bit sore from the training I did yesterday!" Ayame saw how happy the boy was. She thought he was cute when he acted like this and it only served as a means to make her blush. Which she did.

"Why are you blushing like that?" Naruto asked, to which Ayame could only blush even more before replying "No, it's nothing..." she said. 'Better have some fun with this situation, neh?' Naruto thought, before turning on the mischievous part of his brain and asked "Is it a boy?"

"B-BAKA! I don't know what you're talking about!" She said, completely flustered. Naruto laughed for a good minute before he wiped the tears he had shed throughout the laughter and said "I was only teasing you, Ayame-neechan."

'He thinks of me as a sister?!' Ayame thought, still blushing a little bit. She knew that Naruto was really friendly towards her but she didn't know that he thought of her as family. He only came by once or twice a week but it would always end up in the same way: him making her blush.

She tried to shake it off, but the boy was so god damn cute. He was like a chibi-yondaime. 'Wait… A chibi Yondaime… is he related to the fourth?' was the current thoughts racing through her mind. She took a good look at him, before her eyes widened slightly, which was caught by Naruto. 'How come I never realized it?! He's a fucking cardboard copy of the Fourth, only a lot younger!'

Naruto had glanced at her a little quick, and had seen her eyes widened for a brief moment. He knew that she was thinking about something related to him, but he decided to shrug it off. 'It's not like Ayame of all people would realize that I'm the guy that's been running through the village at high speeds. I also don't believe that she has caught me using Hiraishin no Jutsu… What's this girl thinking about? Hmm…' he thought, as he took another bite off the ramen that he was eating.

After a few minutes of eating and her staring at him like he had grown a second head, he decided it was time for him to go and pick up some more ninja gear that the Hokage had given him money for. He quickly said goodbye before running off at a slightly higher speed than what a normal academy student would be running at, as he didn't want to overdo it like he did during the morning.

After a few minutes of what Naruto would call jogging, he arrived at the store that sold Ninja gear. He needed new clothes as the ones he had was almost too small for him. He also needed new kunai and shuriken. He had enough money, the Hokage had made sure of that. He was also getting a discount because he came there so often. He went into the store and was greeted by the store's clerk, Hiro.

"Hey Naruto, how's it hanging?" Hiro asked with a big smile on his face. He knew that whenever Naruto came in, there was going to be a huge shipment. And whenever there was a huge shipment involved, there was loads of cash involved as well.

"Hey Hiro-san! I'm fine, how are you?" Naruto answered back with an equal smile. Naruto then went on and picked out the clothes he needed and also gave Hiro a note which said what kind of weapons and supplies he needed outside of the clothes that could be found in the store.

"Okay… 50 kunai, 200 shuriken, Sealing cloth and ink… The hell are ya gonna do kid, go to war or something?" Hiro asked with a smile on his face. Hiro didn't care what the kid was going to do but it was always fun to see the huge shipments that Naruto wanted and this was no different. In fact, this was only a small one. Naruto went through weapons like he ate them or something. He didn't care how, or why. All he cared about was the fact that Naruto was one of his most trusted customers that always came in with huge orders and he always paid for them, sometimes even before the order was ready. "Nah, I use them for training, ya know!" Naruto said with a foxy grin on his face.

The shipment was ready and had been sealed into several scrolls. Hiro knew that Naruto had the knowledge of how to open them so he didn't even hesitate to give them to him. Naruto had this time already paid for everything before as it had taken several weeks to get the whole shipment ready.

Naruto took the scrolls and ran back to his apartment where he put them down and went to bed early, as he was now completely exhausted from just doing things that would be considered chores by many people.

* * *

The next day

* * *

Naruto woke up with the feeling that something was off. It felt like someone had been in his apartment during the night, and quickly got up and took out a kunai out of the poach that was lying on the nightstand. He carefully walked out of the bedroom and looked around, only to find nothing, or sense anything out of the ordinary.

'I must be getting paranoid…' the blonde just thought before doing what he does every morning: a shower and then breakfast. After thirty minutes he was ready to go to the training grounds to train, and so he created a Kage Bunshin to keep the ANBU that was guarding his apartment from the shadows from suspecting anything. He then vanished.

* * *

Training Ground 7

* * *

Naruto appeared next to the tree that had one of his Jutsu-Shiki planted on it. He saw that the training ground wasn't available as he could see a jounin and his genin train. He decided to watch what they were doing for a while so he ran up onto the tree and sat down on one of the branches.

He decided to take a good look at the four ninja that was standing on the training ground. Their sensei was showing them taijutsu. Naruto then looked over at the genin. The girl, probably around in the mid, had long purple hair, was wearing a purple tank top with a chuunin vest over it, a pair of black pants with one weapon poach on each leg. She also had a tanto on her back.

'Must have trained for a while with it, if she brings it to team training.' Naruto thought 'She's also a chuunin, must be from an earlier graduation. Wonder what happened to her former teammates?' With that, his eyes darted towards the two males in the team. One had black spiky hair while the other one had short hair with a bang over his left eye. They both looked to be much younger than their female teammate.

'Must be from this year's batch of genin.' Naruto thought, as he got up and decided that he was going to check for a different training ground. He vanished again, only to reappear at a different tree that also harbored one of his seals. This was Training Ground 17. It wasn't used often by any ninja, and this time it was no different. He decided that he was going to practice on re-creating one of his father's original techniques.

'I may have my father's knowledge, but my body is still lacking in strength and control.' Naruto thought as he charged the palm of his hand with an orb of chakra…

* * *

AN: and now I'm done with this chapter! I hope you enjoyed it. It's not as exciting as the other one but I hope it will suffice!


	4. Chapter 3

**Disclamer: I do not own Naruto or any other elements.**

 **AN:** Heyo! Another chapter here! I just want to say that Naruto was 6 years and 11 month at the time of the last chapter. ^^,

Let's just enjoy the chapter, shall we? :D

 **Namikaze**

 **Chapter 3**

 **Same day, Hiruzen's perspective in third person**

* * *

Sarutobi Hiruzen was a man with experience. He'd led his village to victory in two great wars and had fought in one of them. He had been in love, and had fathered several children. He had fought the Kyuubi no Kitsune, a being of pure chakra in the form of a nine-tailed fox.

But he had never seen anything like what he had just seen. He knew that Naruto was skilled in fuinjutsu. That was not something he could deny. The boy had effectively sealed his apartment away from the all-seeing orb that the old Hokage had in his possession. But that was not what he was shocked over.

He had seen Naruto fire himself out of the apartment window in a speed that would be considered impossible for someone of his age. He had seen the young boy maintain that speed for a considerable distance, before ending up at the Hyuuga Compound.

But, what had shocked him to the core was the technique that Naruto had used after he had rounded a corner into an alley… He had seen the boy used the very technique that had won the village the Third Great Shinobi War: The Hiraishin no Jutsu.

Hiruzen had no idea as of how Naruto could know this technique, or how he was able to use it to the point where he wouldn't even need to concentrate on connecting with the Jutsu-Shiki. He could only theorize on how the boy was able to use the technique to the extent he was using it in.

He had gotten a report from the Hyuuga Clan. The Clan Heiress had been abducted only to have been rescued by the Clan Head himself: Hyuuga Hiashi. He had also gotten autopsy report from the medical examiner that had examined the Kumo-nin that had abducted the clan heiress. The autopsy report said that there was a large stab wound on the right shoulder, made by a kunai. The thing was, Hiashi had never used kunai in his life. He had trained his whole life to fight using only Hyuuga techniques.

There was something off about this. He had also gotten a report from the ANBU operatives that had been stationed at Naruto's place that Hiashi had carried him into the room, only to leave with the young heiress shortly after.

'What could be going on here?' Hiruzen contemplated. He had seen many strange things, but he had never seen a soon to be seven year old boy perform a technique of such a high caliber such as Hiraishin no Jutsu. He knew that in order to get the answers, he needed to watch Naruto closely, so he sent his best ANBU in terms of stealth to do the scouting for him. And that ANBU went under the codename Weasel.

Weasel had done as ordered, and had been monitoring the boy from within the house. The boy had somehow sensed him, but he managed to escape the boy's senses by masking himself in a genjutsu, only to be shocked to the core when the boy created a solid clone of himself, and then simply vanish into thin air only a few moments later.

This report troubled the old man even more, as he had still know knowledge of where the young boy had learned these techniques. He did not know who he had learnt them from. There were only three people, aside from Naruto, that knew this technique. And none of them could use it alone. They all needed to be together for the technique to work as they only knew a third of it each.

But Naruto, however was able to perform the technique alone at the same level of expertise as his diseased successor: Namikaze Minato the Yondaime Hokage. Was there something wrong with the seal? Had Minato intentionally placed ninjutsu scrolls in a place that only Naruto would be able to find? 'But that wouldn't explain his expertise in either of the techniques. He was using them at a level that would make it seem like he had used these techniques for years. Like they are his signature techniques…' His mind was racing through all the possibilities. He now knew that Naruto was more than he was letting on. He knew that Naruto was holding back in the academy.

'Wouldn't be surprised if he sent a Kagebunshin every day to the academy. If he's able to perform Hiraishin to such an extent, then there is no doubt in my mind that he has mastered Kage bunshin to the point where the teachers wouldn't be able to spot the difference.' Hiruzen thought, before sighing as he decided to go over to the most powerful enemy any leader had ever faced: The Paperwork of Doom.

* * *

 **Hinata's perspective, third person**

* * *

Hinata had just gotten home from visiting Naruto. She understood that Naruto cared about her, judging from what he did the day before. She knew that the boy in question was stronger than he let on, and that he wasn't at his full strength when he encountered the Kumo-nin. She wanted to do more than just say thank you, but she couldn't find the courage to do it. She just didn't have the resolve, or the confidence in herself to do so. She wanted to hug the boy, badly. But, what would he think if she did so?

Hinata contemplated talking to her father about it, but decided against it because her mind was a mess. All she could think off was the sun-kissed blonde boy that saved her from being kidnapped by an enemy village. She had also heard the boy talk to her father, but decided to only eavesdrop on their conversation. She had never heard her father speak so kindly to anyone but her mother, who died in childbirth a year earlier. She knew that it was bad of her to think about it, as it only made her sad. She didn't want to remember her mother dying in front of her, with her last words being that she loved Hinata so much, and that she would be watching her grow up from heaven.

Hinata however didn't know how what to do though. Her mother, the only person she could consider to be a role-model had died and her father was only growing colder for each day. Seeing her father speak to Naruto in such a kind manner made her realize that he still had some hope in him, and she hoped that he would return to his old self before her mother had died. She shrunk into a fetal state, tears flowing down her cheeks as she remembered her beautiful mother's face.

* * *

 **Hiashi's perspective, third person**

* * *

Hiashi was a man of honor. He had grown cold towards his daughter, who had shrunk into a state of poor confidence in herself. Her daughter blamed herself for the death of her mother. So did Hiashi. His coldness was a way to mask the broken state he was in. it was the only thing he could do because he did not know how to handle the loss. He wanted nothing more than to hold his crying daughter and let his own emotions out. But he couldn't, the Hyuuga Clan Head couldn't show weakness.

The boy. He had saved his daughter from being kidnapped. His gratitude was true. He did not know how to properly thank him as he had buried almost all of his emotions to maintain the stoic mask that was now Hiashi. He did his best, but Naruto didn't seem to care about the gratitude. All he cared about was Hinata. 'The boy is so much like his father that it's scary. If Naruto ever wants to become more than friends with Hinata… then I shall allow it.' Hiashi thought, proud that his late friends' son had grown up to be so powerful.

But now he had more pressing matters… Kumo wanted his head. They had been getting the news faster than anticipated. Hizashi, Hiashi's twin brother, was adamant on sacrificing himself to save his brother that was the leader of the clan. The emotions that was buried deep inside of him was screaming not to let him do it, but over the year he had stopped listening to them and decided to go with the only logical solution that was good for the clan. Which was to sacrifice Hizashi.

* * *

 **Fourteen months later (Naruto's age: 8)**

 **With Naruto**

* * *

A year had gone by since the the Hyuuga incident. Hinata's uncle had been executed by Kumo to avoid war. The Uchiha Clan had been massacred by Uchiha Itachi. Naruto had been going hardcore on the training after what happened that day when Hinata had been kidnapped. He knew that if he could not stand up against a chuunin in terms of strength, it meant that he needed to train. He knew however that his body was not in sync with his mind. He also knew that actually trying to train his body more than what he was doing right now wasn't the best thing either. Everyone had their limits, and this was Naruto's. He knew that he would've been able to beat the chuunin had he not been exhausted from training. He knew that he could stand against up many of the chuunin in Konoha in that regard. He decided not to think about it, he had survived the whole ordeal and he was not going to let this experience throw him off his end goal.

He had been able to recreate two of his father's most prized, known and feared techniques. The only problem was that his body was not ready for fights of the magnitude that he knew that he would need to be a part of. Not yet at least. That was why he kept his knowledge and true strength a secret: to keep himself and the people around him safe from foreign threat. Shaking these thoughts from is head, he started focusing on the task at hand: getting ready for his graduation.

He had asked his teachers if he could take the graduation exam early. He wasn't supposed to take it until he was ten, but the teachers, headmaster and even the Hokage thought that he was ready for the life to come. They had seen Naruto's true self flash in his eyes for a few moments several times. He was also far ahead of his class, having completed almost all of the theoretical parts of the whole academy in only a few months and rivaled the last year's students in terms of taijutsu and kunai/shuriken practice.

If he wanted to graduate, he would very well be able to. There was little doubt about that. Hell, he could've graduated the day he started, had he been able to just take the test at that point. The problem was that no one would've allowed him to take the test. So he decided to not hold back as much as he had at the start. He decided that showing them intelligence above that of an academy student and a tremendous amount of growth would land him closer to an early graduation. He needed to.

He made his way towards the school. People had gotten the wind of his early and unorthodox graduation. It was unorthodox because he wasn't going to do the test with the rest of the graduators. He was going to do it alone, and almost a year before the current graduation class would be doing it. Therefore, people were looking at him with smiles on their faces, greeting him and saying "good luck" as he walked down the road towards the academy.

He did all the tests and scored a 100% on all of them, just like the teachers had predicted that he would do. They could see that he was confident, and there was no fear of failing in his eyes. Only determination.

The final test was the ninjutsu part. The examiner, Umino Iruka, who had been recently promoted to chuunin, asked Naruto "Would you please perform Kawarimi no Jutsu, Henge no Jutsu and Bunshin no Jutsu?"

Naruto did Henge'd into the Third Hokage 'A perfect henge aswell, amazing for someone his age' thought Iruka, before Naruto switched places with the chair next to him. Naruto then made three perfect bunshin. Iruka smiled at this, as he had heard that Naruto had a large amount of chakra for his age. So large, that it was probably more than your average jounin in the village.

Iruka then said "congratulations, Naruto. You are now officially a genin of Konohagakure!" as he gave Naruto the headband. Naruto welcomed it with open arms and put it on his forehead before bowing towards Iruka before walking outside to greet the people that had come to congratulate him for graduating so early, and those people were Sarutobi Hiruzen, Hyuuga Hinata along with her father, Hyuuga Hiashi, Teuchi and Ayame.

They all congratulated Naruto before Teuchi proclaimed "Come, let's eat! The food is on the house!" as they all laughed and walked towards the Ramen stand. They all got a bowl each of various flavors and when they had settled into their seats, Naruto suddenly asked "So, I don't mind her company, but isn't Hinata supposed to be at the academy?"

To which Hiruzen smiled and said "Yes, but I know that you two are good friends so I told her that it was okay for her to take the day off to spend it with you. Who knows, maybe she won't see you for some time as you are now a Shinobi of the Leaf, Naruto-kun." Naruto smiled and said "Yeah thanks for coming, guys! It means a lot to me. So, Hokage-jichan, are ya gonna tell me what team I'm gonna be on?"

At this, the Hokage got a mischievous look in his eyes and the smile on his face didn't help it either. Naruto thought that it was very out of character for the Hokage to act like this. The Hokage on the other hand just said "Why don't you come to my office tomorrow at 10am. I will see to that your shishou will be there when you get there."

"Wait, shishou? I'm not gonna be on a team?" Naruto asked, really confused right now. He had heard of people apprenticing single students, but he didn't think that he would be one of those few lucky people.

"No, there is a jounin in this village that has decided to apprentice you. I believe that he will teach you enough about what this village stands for, and you will go to missions together with other teams as you get more experience." Said the Hokage, surprising the blonde.

'Hmm, I wonder if it's Kakashi. But, he's one of the ANBU that is usually following me, I'd be surprised if he was pulled out of the program just to become a jounin sensei…' Naruto thought, going into his dubbed 'Minato' state, where he would usually overthink things because they were usually not as complicated as he thought they would be.

Both Hokage and Hiruzen looked at Naruto amusingly. They thought that he looked so much like his father when he concentrated or thought heavily. It was rather amusing. 'Like father, like son I guess.' Thought the Hokage.

Hinata looked at Naruto with stars in her eyes. She thought that he was an amazing person that had the potential to become the strongest person in the village. She had seen him fight. He was her role model, her crush. But, she had yet to confess her feelings for him.

They sat there for almost thirty minutes before Hinata and Hiashi left, saying their goodbyes to Naruto and the Hokage. The latter duo walked towards the Hokage tower, and when they arrived at Hiruzen's office, he decided to confront Naruto.

"Naruto, I need to talk to you about something…" Said the old man, as he looked at Naruto in a serious manner. Naruto looked back with an equally serious look on his face as he asked "what is it, Sarutobi-jiji?" to which Hiruzen said "How is it that you know Hiraishin no Jutsu and Kage Bunshin no Jutsu?"

Naruto didn't show it, but he was shocked. He had been able to keep his mask from slipping, and he only sighed at the question and then looked at the Hokage with a tired look and answered "We both have our secrets. Let's keep them just that: secrets."

The Hokage looked at him for a few moments, before realizing that he wasn't going to get anything out of Naruto. He was right. They both had secrets and it wasn't anything new. He wanted to berate the boy for saying something like this. To speak like that to his leader. But he couldn't. He figured that Minato had prepared something in case Naruto was left alone. 'I guess you really thought everything through… didn't you, Minato?'

The Hokage then decided to tell Naruto about the S-rank secret that Naruto was a part of, or in reality, WAS the S-rank secret. "Naruto-kun, what I am about to tell you is an S-rank secret. Only three people knows about this." To which Naruto only sighed, pulled his head back and sinked into his chair and answered "if you're talking about the oversized fur ball with nine tails, then I already know that secret…"

This didn't shock the Hokage. It was only mildly surprising. 'So, did he figure it out from the seal on his stomach?' the old man thought, as he replied back with the very same question. Naruto answered with "Yeah, the seal was a dead giveaway. I've been studying seals for several years now and I can tell ya already that the seal is a piece of art. Never seen anything like it, at all."

The last part was a lie, as he had memories of creating it. The first part was made properly but the second layer was rushed, and therefore flawed. He had managed to fix it so that it could work properly together with the key that the toads had, should the time of it being needed would come.

They talked for a while, mostly about ninjutsu and fuinjutsu. Naruto was currently waiting for the photographer so that he could take the picture for his file. He took the picture, and then wrote his signature on the file. Hiruzen looked it over and his eyes widened. The surname on the signature was identical to his mother's. He looked at Naruto who just said "what? Something wrong with my signature?"

Hiruzen brushed it off. He couldn't throw a fit against Naruto right now. Naruto already knew about the Kyuubi, who was not to say that he knew about his parents. He decided to reply with "No, it's nothing. Do you want to talk about anything else? To which Naruto quickly replied with "Nah, I'm gonna go home and get ready for tomorrow, I'll see ya then, old man!" before vanishing into thin air. At this point he didn't have to hide it from the Hokage so why not use it in his presence.

Hiruzen only smiled at speedster's sudden disappearance before muttering "I don't think that I'll ever get used to that…" only to see Naruto appear again who had a huge foxy grin plastered on his face.

"Did you forget something, Naruto-kun?" Hiruzen asked. Naruto replied with "Yeah, did ya know that Kage Bunshin is a really good way of getting paperwork done faster?" while still bearing that head splitting grin. Naruto then vanished again after he had seen the old Hokage bang his head on the desk while repeatedly saying "Stupid, Stupid Stupid!"

* * *

 **With Naruto**

* * *

Naruto decided to take it easy for the rest of the day and focus on theorizing around fuinjutsu instead of physical training. He was probably going to be tested by the mentor he going to train under. He theorized for several hours before calling it a day and going to sleep.

 **Only to dream about what happened the night the Uchiha Clan was massacred…**

* * *

 **AN:** Woop woop! This chapter was slightly longer than I thought it would turn out to be. I kept adding things onto it so in the end it got a lot longer!

Again, I am updating really fast because I don't really have much else to do. Either way, I hope you enjoy this chapter as well. I will be increasing the length of the chapters gradually because I feel like I can press more into a chapter than I am right now. All I can say though, is that shit will hit the fan soon, and it will hit it hard… really hard.

AN 2: Yeah, misscalculated his age, fixed it though!


	5. Chapter 4

**Disclamer: I do not own Naruto or any other elements.**

 **AN:** Hi everyone! Hope you've had an awesome friday yesterday! I know I had it! I would've written this yesterday but I got held up but things IRL (Like a printer that JUST WONT FUCKING WORK) so I was barely able to write half the chapter. Either way, here's the chapter! I hope you enjoy! :D

 **Namikaze**

 **Chapter 4**

Naruto was sleeping in a violent manner. His body kept twisting around on the bed as if he was having a nightmare. It wasn't as much of a nightmare as it was more of a dream pulled from his memories. The way his body moved however showed that he wasn't enjoying it one bit.

* * *

 ***Flashback/dream, 4 months ago, third person view***

* * *

Naruto was walking down the street, again. It felt as though every time he was walking home instead of just teleporting something bad was going to happen. He knew it was a bad habit of his. This time though, he hadn't trained as much as he usually did. He only did the warmup to keep himself in shape. But, it was late nonetheless.

The reason he hadn't been training as much was because they had a trip to the bunkers to practice in case of an invasion. So, he got home late and decided to do some "light" training to spend the time.

On his way home however, he sensed that something was really wrong not too far away from him. He suddenly heard a horrifying scream, indicating violence. It was coming from the Uchiha Compound.

Naruto started sprinting. He flew past the people under him over the rooftops. When he got to the Uchiha Compound's gate, he was horrified. There were corpses everywhere, and every one of them were from the Uchiha Clan, be it children, women or men.

He quickly ran straight towards the Clan Head's Compound and quickly rushed through the sliding door, and saw Weasel. Only, this time he wasn't wearing the mask that he usually was, and his Sharingan was activated.

"WHAT THE FUCK HAVE YOU DONE, ITACHI?!" Naruto exclaimed, seething in anger. The young Uchiha only looked at Naruto in pure boredom and said "I am doing this to test my stre-" A kunai flew past Itachi and his eyes widened. He didn't even see the blonde's hand move. The next thing he knew, he was standing over a training field with Naruto in front of him.

Naruto had used his momentum after Hiraishin no Jutsu to teleport them mid-air before landing and jumping away from the teenage Itachi.

"What are you gonna do, Naruto-kun?" Itachi asked, while looking straight at Naruto, this time without the Sharingan.

"Just give me straight answers, Itachi. How the fuck get you so twisted to butcher your family? Is it an assignment?" Naruto asked. However what scared Itachi was the tone he was using. It was the same tone that Itachi had used just a moment ago, when Naruto had called him out. Itachi could also have sworn his eyes flickered red, and it made him weary.

'Is Naruto an Uchiha? No, that's not it. Why did his eyes flicker between blue and red? What are you hiding, Naruto-kun?' Itachi wondered. He knew that Naruto could've taken him out. He knew that if Naruto could use Hiraishin no Jutsu, he could probably "tag" people, so to speak. If so, saying the wrong thing would most likely result in death. Itachi decided to tell him the truth.

"Yes, I was ordered by Hokage-sama to kill take the Uchiha Clan out before they carried out the plans they were going to set into motion." Itachi said as to which Naruto immediately replied with "What plans?"

"A coup d'etat." Said Itachi. Naruto's eyes widened in realization. His father had been gone for too long. He didn't have the Intel on what was happening during the Council Meetings. 'Shit… Did the Hokage and the Council do something to make the Uchiha feel like they were being watched over? No, they've become the scapegoats of the Kyuubi Incident. Or at least, they're suspects of being the ones that did it.'

Naruto sighed. He had just disrupted an ANBU mission that was without a doubt S-rank. If the Hokage got the wind of this he would most likely punish Naruto severely. It could very well lead to his execution, no matter how close he was to the old man. He decided to go all in and fake it. "Leave your parents and Sasuke out of this. Do not become the monster you're trying to protect Konoha from. And do not touch your brother. Do not speak to him. You have already made the situation bad enough as it is." With that said, he vanished, leaving the ANBU Captain to contemplate on what the seven year old boy just said. Itachi's eyes widened in realization of what he had just done. He had destroyed his own clan for the sake of the village… No, for the sake of the mission. What had happened? He knew that the Hokage would never order him to do something so… extreme. 'Danzo…' Itachi thought, as his eyes narrowed into a horizontal slit, before bursting into crows.

 **With Naruto**

Naruto re-appeared in the Uchiha Compound, frightening the two Uchiha. Unlike most times, he hadn't caught the kunai. He had only teleported to it. He looked at Fugaku and said "Don't tell the Hokage what you saw. You brought this upon yourselves with your idiotic plan…" as he vanished again, leaving the husband and wife to think of their sins…

He had reappeared at the Hokage's compound to see what Itachi would do next. He heard them talk about the mission and how Itachi had failed it by letting his parents and brother survive. Itachi had decided not to tell the Hokage about Naruto's interference, much to Naruto's surprise. He could very well rat Naruto out for what he did, yet he didn't. He had also heard the Hokage say that he had two hours to get out of Konoha, as he would be branded as a nuke-nin then. Naruto resisted the urge to sigh, not wanting to get caught. He decided to leave at that point. He had already heard enough.

* * *

 ***End Flashback/Dream***

* * *

Naruto woke up. His whole bed was drowned in sweat. It may not have been a nightmare, but hed had just revisiting unwanted memories. He didn't like the outcome of what happened that night at all. The two older Uchiha had kept their mouths shut since that day and so had Itachi. Naruto sighed. His head was far too deep into this shit.

Naruto didn't want the Hokage to know that he had foiled their plans, and instead Itachi had told the Hokage that he couldn't kill his own family. He couldn't kill the three people he loved the most in his life. It just wasn't possible.

Naruto knew however that this was a blatant lie. He had seen through Itachi's façade the moment he used the tone he had spoken with at the Uchiha Complex. It was the tone of a hardened ANBU, and not the bored/emotionless one that everyone else would think. If he didn't have the memories of his father, he wouldn't have been able to recognize it.

Because of that, Naruto knew that Itachi would've killed his parents, had he not interfered. He had no idea about Itachi's little brother though. From what he heard from Sasuke, it seemed like Itachi loved him with all his heart. It was like a protective brotherly love, not wanting to see Sasuke get hurt trying to do the techniques Itachi could perform. It was why Itachi didn't teach him the things he could do. It was why he had left his brother's training to Fugaku, their father.

He was glad though. Sasuke hadn't fallen into the revenge path. Instead, it only bolstered his love for his parents and wanted to do everything he could to protect them. It was what they needed right now. They didn't need an Uchiha hell-bent on revenge going down the path of hatred.

Naruto looked at the clock. It was 6 in the morning. He sighed, he was up early gain. It was like during his early years when he would constantly wake up from receiving his parents' memories. He didn't like it one bit, but it was something that he had been living with for so long.

He got up, muttering "Stupid memories…" as he walked towards the bathroom. He needed a cold shower after that little… incident. He needed it to wake him up. He had the time, obviously. He had four hours to get ready for the day. He stood in the shower for an hour before getting dressed.

He had decided to go for a black sleeved shirt with an orange swirl on the back, a pair of dark grey long shorts. On both legs he had his two kunai poaches, a poach containing sealing ink and cloth for the sealing plus a second poach with smoke bombs and shuriken around the waist. He had also wrapped his arms in bandages. He had decided to copy Kakashi with a black mask, mostly because he thought it looked badass and made him look like a real shinobi. He sighed. He didn't really want to copy Kakashi. But someone had to, right? He was the Sharingan no Kakashi, the Copy Cat. So why not copy the Copy Cat himself?

He went to the kitchen to get something to eat for breakfast, only to find out that he had forgotten to buy groceries. He face-palmed. The only thing he had was a few packs of instant ramen. He cringed. He liked ramen but not that much. 'Serves me right I guess for interfering with shit I have no business with.' Yeah, he was going to blame himself for that one for a while.

After he had eaten the ramen, he put a post-it note on the fridge to remind him that he needed to buy food before looking at the clock. It was 9.30. He was wondering if he should use Hiraishin no Jutsu to just appear inside of the Hokage's office or not. It would be fun to see them talk and then just out of nowhere say "YO!" to scare them a little bit. He decided not to. He wanted to see what kind of jounin he would get as his mentor.

He started walking towards the Hokage Tower, greeting people as he went by. They didn't recognize him, but greeted him nonetheless. He got to the Hokage tower and walked up the stairs. He got to the Hokage's secretary and said "Hi, I'm here to see Hokage-sama." With a gentle voice. The secretary hadn't noticed him get up close, and jumped a little as Naruto started speaking. After regaining herself, she said "Ah, yes. Uzumaki Naruto-san, am I correct?" while looking at him, to which he nodded. "Yes, Hokage-sama will see you now."

Naruto went into the Hokage's office, and was surprised to see who was there with the Hokage: Jiraya of the Sannin. 'Wait, what the fuck?' Naruto thought, he had not anticipated that Jiraya of all people would be here. 'Is he supposed to be my sensei?' Hiruzen saw that Naruto had just arrived, and said "Ah! Hello, Naruto-kun! How are you today?" to which Naruto simply answered "Hi Hokage-jiji, I'm just peachy. What's the sage doing here?"

Jiraya, who had been listening, said "Ah so you recognize a sage when you see one?" to which Naruto immediately retorted with "Yeah, and I also recognize a pervert when I see one, ero-sennin." To which Jiraya straight up facevaulted at. He did not expect the brat to have such a low sense of respect. Naruto then asked the Hokage "Yeah. So, he's my sensei, isn't he?" with a deadpan expression, to which Hiruzen just laughed at. It was an amusing scene. Although he was mildly surprised at the fact that Naruto knew who Jiraya was, he still had the balls to treat him like he did to everyone else: in his own way.

"Yes he is your sensei, Naruto. And you should try to at least show some respect towards him. He did, after all, train the fourth hokage." Said the old man, to which Naruto just mumbled "Yeah, I know…" with a frown on his face. Jiraya then said "Alright kiddo! I want to see what you can do! Meet me at Training Ground 7 in five minutes." Before he left the Hokage's office in a Konoha no Shunshin.

"Eh, sure why not." Was all that Naruto said as he looked at the spot the pervert had been standing on, before he turned to the Hokage and said "He's in for a can of woop-ass for not being here when I was growing up… I hope you know that." And with that, he vanished from the Hokage's office. 'Nope, still not getting used to that.' Was all that the Hokage could think as he stared at spot that Naruto had been standing on.

* * *

 **Training Ground Seven**

* * *

Naruto appeared at the tree he had tagged. Jiraya was nowhere to be seen, which was to be expected. His hiraishin would always be faster than a shunshin. He decided to get himself ready for Jiraiya by releasing the weight seals that he had on his body and scatter his kunai that harbored the Jutsu-Shiki.

After a few minutes of waiting, Jiraiya arrived. The man was surprised to see the boy standing there as he did not think that he would be that fast. 'How did he get here so quick?' Jiraiya thought before looking around the field. His eyes widened, there were kunai everywhere in the same manner as the Yondaime had scattered them during battles in the past. The only difference was that these were normal kunai, yet they still had the Jutsu-Shiki on the handles just like the tri-prong kunai the boy's father had used.

'What the hell is this? Does the boy know Hiraishin no Jutsu?! No, he's gotta be bluffing. There's no way this brat already has the mastery in seals to use a technique such as this.' Jiraiya thought as he looked around him. 'This all but confirms his knowledge of his parents though. At least concerning his father. Wonder what more he has up his sleeves, if he's already decided to show this.'

"Brat, why are there kunai scattered throughout the whole field?" Jiraiya asked. Naruto answered with the following phrase: "The fire's shadow is illuminating the village." Causing Jiraya's eyes to widen. This was a variance of Minato's favorite phrase. There were only two other people that had known this phrase, and both of them were dead. "I-is that you, Minato?" he asked. Naruto chuckled as he said "No, I'm not my father. I am however a very capable ninja."

'How does he know that phrase?' Jiraiya's mind was spinning like crazy. 'It's not a phrase that they had written down in the books. Hell, I've only heard him use it once and that was the day that he became Hokage!' The Sage decided to test Naruto here and now. To see what he could go for. He knew that if the brat could use Hiraishin, it would be a lot more difficult to take him on. 'But, his mind and reflexes must be incredibly fast to utilize Hiraishin to its fullest extension. Has he really trained that hard?'

"Alright, let's test your so-called capabilities, shall we?" said the Sage as he charged towards the kid. Naruto snorted, that speed was really slow in comparison to his own. Naruto disappeared in a blur only to reappear in front of Jiraiya with a kick towards his face. Jiraiya dodged hit with widened eyes thinking 'Holy shit, he's fast! Maybe I should stop underestimating him and actually try to push him instead.'

Jiraiya jumped back while going through hand seals. When he landed he spat out a large fireball at Naruto. 'Oh, a fireball? Let's try this out then shall we?' Naruto thought, as his hands went into the tiger sign. He spat out a fireball that collided with Jiraiya's.

"Ho-ho, you can also do the Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu? That's impre-" Jiraiya was cut short as he felt a kunai pressed against his side.

"Maybe next time you shouldn't call bluffs out when they aren't." It came from behind. He turned his head to see Naruto with a kunai in hand, cold blue eyes looking straight into Jiraiya's. 'Damn, he's angry… Does he know I'm his godfather?' Jiraiya thought. He had just been beaten by a little kid. This kid had managed to perform a technique that not even he could do, even though his deceased student had tried to teach it to him.

"Alright, you got me kid. Never thought I'd say this but man, you're fast. Almost as fast as your old man." Jiraiya said. He had now seen the kid fight. He hadn't even had time to actually step up his game. The kid had just finished the fight before anything happened. Naruto lowered his kunai and put it back into the holster. He created a clone that went to pick up the remaining kunai that wasn't caught in the crossfire of the two fireballs.

"I know. Who do you think I'm trying to surpass?" Said Naruto as he started walking towards the village. He suddenly stopped and looked back at Jiraiya with a bored look and said "Aren't you coming? I'm hungry and you've got eight years to make up for, godfather."

Jiraiya facevaulted. Naruto wasn't angry at him, he was just disappointed. 'Well, might as well treat him to lunch or something. It's the least I can do.' He decided to follow the kid and treat him to food. Maybe he could find out a little bit more about the kid, so he decided to ask some questions.

"So kid, how did you get so good at seals?" He asked. Naruto just said "I've studied seals for several years with the use of Kagebunshin. They come in handy really well when it comes to theory. Now that I've answered one of your questions, you can answer one of mine." Naruto said, and Jiraiya nodded. "We're not going to do D-ranks, right?"

"Nah, from what I've seen from you, you're way beyond genin level."said Jiraiya as he continued" And besides, I don't want to do the chores that are called D-ranked missions anyway. Imagine, the great Sannin Jiraiya being reduced to doing D-ranks. Nope, not gonna happen." At that, they both started laughing. It was true, there was no way neither of them were going to do D-ranked missions.

After a few minutes of walking they ended up at Ichiraku's Ramen. As they walked in Naruto said "Hey Teuchi-jichan and Ayame-neechan! How are you?" They looked up and smiled. Their favorite customer had arrived!

"Hey Naruto-kun!" Said Ayame before continuing "We're doing great! What about you?" Naruto eyesmiled (still having the mask on) and said "I'm fine, beat this old pervert next to me in a spar a few minutes ago." They looked to his right and their eyes widened. This was Jiraiya of the Sannin, one of Konohagakure's strongest Shinobi. If not THE strongest one as of this moment. And Naruto had just said that he had beaten him in a spar.

"Hello, Jiraiya-sama." Said Teuchi. "I'm sorry I didn't see you right away, we usually don't get such prestigious customers such as you." Jiraiya huffed and muttered "Well, at least these two are showing me respect, unlike a certain brat."

"Heard that." Naruto quickly responded with before ordering his meal. Ayame decided to ask Naruto a question as they got their food. "So Naruto, when you said that you defeated Jiraiya in a spar. What exacly did you mean by that?" Naruto eyesmiled once again and said "I meant what I said. I beat him." She widened her eyes and looked at the Sannin. He crossed his arms, had a funny frown on his face as he said "Yeah well I didn't even get to see how far I could push you. You just jumped at me immediately and said that you had won."

Naruto just laughed at this. He knew that if Jiraiya had gone all out he would most likely not stand a chance. He'd probably get killed in an instant, or at least been hurt real bad. But, for now he could at least boast about beating the Sannin in a spar.

They continued talking for a good half hour before deciding that they were done eating for today. Jiraiya was forced to pay for the food because Naruto had ditched him by teleporting to the Hokage's office. 'Damn brat. I guess he really meant that I had eight years to make up for my absence.' He thought as he paid the check. He then shunshined to the Hokage's office where he was greeted by both Naruto and the Hokage.

"So, I heard that Naruto-kun defeated you in the test you were going to give him." Said the Hokage with a smile. "I guess you're getting rusty if an eight year old can beat you."

"God fucking damnit, Naruto! Did you have to tell him that you beat me?" Jiraiya yelled. I was bad enough that a pair of civilians knew about it, but now his sensei who was also the leader of the village knew about it.

Naruto just eyesmiled. Sometimes he loved fucking around with people. He just couldn't help it. And boasting a little bit was also fun. And even though he knew that he wasn't at Jiraiya's level yet, he knew that if he could catch Jiraiya off guard, he could do so to most shinobi and kunoichi alike.

"Yeah well," Naruto began "when you get beaten by a kid you're gonna feel the rest of the fall: humiliation. Anyway, is there a possibility that we could start off with a mission today, Hokage-sama? As much as I like these small chats the three of us have had today, I'd like to go on a mission."

"Ehm, sure Naruto-kun." Said the Hokage. "Tora has escaped again. Maybe you can find the Daimyo's wife's cat fo-"The interruption didn't come from Naruto. It came from Jiraiya.

"Nope, no fucking D-ranks." Said the Sage "Give the kid a C-rank. I'll be there to bank him up should something go wrong." At this, Hiruzen sighed. He had seen this coming but he didn't want Naruto grow up so quickly. He looked at Naruto for confirmation on this, and sweatdropped. Naruto had a bored look in his eyes as he said "No D-ranks. C or above."

'Such disrespect coming from the youths these days…' Thought Hiruzen before he said "Fine, we have a bandit camp 15 clicks from the village that we need someone to take out." He then gave the mission papers to Jiraiya and Naruto who took them and started reading. "I seriously hope the two of you know what you're doing." Said Hiruzen. "This mission is a high C-rank. Possibly a low B-rank. The intel is a week old so we do not know if there are shinobi involved." Naruto just eyesmiled and said "Don't worry, Hokage-jiji. We accept this mission."

And with that, the duo left the office to get ready for the mission.

* * *

 **AN** : Aaaaand Thats a wrap! Hope you enjoyed it! :D

Write down your thoughts etc in a review and i'll either answer them as an Author note in the next chapter, or a direct PM to you!

Oh, and also, it seems like I may be trying to update it once a day but that is not the case. I write the chapters as I see fit, and as of this moment it feels like its the only thing I get excited about when I get up in the mornings, ya know? ^^, I cannot promise DAILY chapters, but I will do my best to keep this story active for as long as I can. But for now, enjoy the fourth chapter of Namikaze! ;)

See ya in the next chapter!


	6. Chapter 5

**Disclamer: I do not own Naruto or any other elements.**

 **AN:** Yooooooooo! Would've finished this chapter if it wasn't for the League of Legends final that was played last night! If you follow the League E-sports you know what Im talking about! C L G, C L G! :D Anyway, let's get on with the chapter, shall we? :D

* * *

 **Namikaze**

 **Chapter 5**

* * *

Naruto and Jiraiya were walking towards the target location. The mission was simple: eradicate the bandits that were terrorizing the nearby villages. Intel suggested that the enemy had fifty low level thugs and about 15 trained soldiers. These soldiers didn't possess the ability to use chakra, which was why it was labeled as a C-rank mission. As they were walking, they talked. Or rather, Jiraiya tried to get some of his questions answered.

"So, who taught you Hiraishin no Jutsu, Naruto?" He asked. Naruto just answered "That's a secret. I hope you can understand that." Jiraiya frowned at this. He wanted the answers. Naruto had become powerful, almost too powerful, on his own.

"Alright. I want you to do this mission alone without Hiraishin no Jutsu. Only use it if you are in deep trouble." Said Jiraiya and Naruto nodded. He hadn't planned on using Hiraishin no Jutsu in a mission just yet. "I don't see the point in using Hiraishin no Jutsu against bandits. I'd rather see what I can do before resorting to an S-rank technique." Said Naruto. This surprised Jiraiya. He didn't think that Naruto would agree this easy.

They got to the bandit camp and decided to do some recon. They looked around and saw no indication of bad Intel. They then looked at each other, and Naruto gave Jiraiya one of his kunai that was marked with the Jutsu-Shiki, before he disappeared in a blur. He landed in the middle of the camp, unnoticed. His mission was simple: kill the enemy, rescue any civilian.

"HEY LOOK, THERE'S A BRAT OVER HERE!" said one of the bandits. 'Well, I guess I'd be spotted if I just appeared inside of the camp.' Thought Naruto as he got to work. He quickly threw a shuriken at the man. The shuriken hit the bandit on the forehead and he fell backwards: dead.

Naruto then proceeded to blur between the low-level thugs with a kunai in each hand, slitting their throats one by one. It was a gruesome sight. The bandits had never seen anyone move as quickly as he had. "IT'S A SHINOBI! QUI-!" The bandit was interrupted as a kunai hit the back of his neck.

'This isn't even a battle… This is genocide.' Thought a sad Naruto. He knew that this was the Shinobi life. He knew that this was what he had signed up for. He continued to blur between the thugs until he was the only combatant standing. His whole outfit was bloodied, but none was his. He looked around him with sadness in his eyes. He didn't like it one bit, but these men had murdered, raped and plundered several villages. This was the life of a shinobi.

This wasn't the first time he had killed. He had done it before.

* * *

 ***flashback, three years ago***

* * *

 **Sarutobi Compound**

It was late in the evening. Naruto was alone in his room and was in his bed trying to sleep. The boy had a bad feeling, as if something was going to happen. He sat up and looked towards the window… and saw three shadows. The shadows moved into his room. All he could see was a sadistic smile from the middle one. He then screamed with everything he had.

"Man, someone must've heard that…" Said one of them. Suddenly the door opened and the one to the right threw a kunai, hitting the individual in the chest that opened it. The person fell forward with blood seeping onto the carpet.

"HANAKO-NEECHAN!" called Naruto out in despair. He got out of bed and ran to her side and started shaking her body with tears flowing down his cheeks. "P-please, Hanako-Neechan! Please wake up!" There was no response. Naruto started shaking. His sadness and despair turned into anger. He then flipped Hanako's body, confusing the three unknown shinobi. They then felt it: His chakra. Their confidence turned into fear. The child turned his eyes towards them, revealing fiery red eyes with slits for pupils, filled with anger and hatred.

"YOU WILL P **AY FOR WHAT YOU DID** " the little child roared as he pulled the kunai out from Hanako heart and then charged at the man who had thrown the kunai at a blinding speed. The man hadn't even seen the child move. The kunai connected with his throat before he had even reacted.

The other two looked at the boy with pure fear. This was not the job they were given. They were here to abduct the Uzumaki child, not fight a monster. Said boy pulled the kunai out and looked at the other two with wide red eyes, like he had gone insane. He moved in a blur as they both fell on the ground. He looked at them, before falling unconscious as well.

 ***** _ **Mindscape***_

Naruto looked around in confusion. 'What happened?' He wondered. 'Am I in my mindscape right now?' He was in a sewer with a large cage door in front of him. There was a few inches of water on the floor. He looked into the dark cage, and his eyes widened as a large fox head appeared within field of view.

" **Ah, so my jailor has finally decided to visit me…"** said a deep voice, coming from the fox. Naruto's eyes widened as he realized who or what this was. This was the Kyuubi no Kitsune: The Nine-Tailed fox. He wasn't frightened though. No, he had seen the marking that was sitting on a piece of paper on the gate.

"Hello, Kyuubi-san." Said Naruto in a sad manner, with his head looking downwards. "Am I… Am I inside my head right now?" he asked as he looked up at the oversized fox with tears in his eyes. **"Yes, Jailor."** The Kyuubi said. **" You are currently inside your mindscape."** He was surprised at Naruto's behavior. Not only did Naruto know where he was, but he also didn't show any form of fear In the presence of the big and might Kyuubi.

" **How are you not scared?"** The big fox asked. Naruto answered "Well, I know that the paper on that gate is keeping you from getting out. I also know that you've only got half of your chakra right now which means that you are not strong enough to completely break it with your raw power." The Kyuubi's eyes widened. This boy knew his situation to the exact point.

" **You knew about me the whole team?"** The Kyuubi asked. Unlike his last host, he hadn't been able to see through the seal at all throughout the last few years. He had no idea what his jailor had experienced until he got angry enough to subconsciously draw on his power.

"Yeah, I even fixed the seal that Tou-chan screwed up." Said Naruto. "He messed it up so now my memories is all mumbo jumbo and I can't even tell whose my memories are… my father's, my mother's or my own…" This surprised the Kyuubi even more. **'So, he has somehow absorbed his parents' memories…'** the big fox thought. **'Interesting…'**

" **I would suggest to not tell people about this, Naruto."** Said the Kyuubi, before continuing. **'With the knowledge of your parents, he could very well become the most powerful host I've ever had…'**

"What?! Why not?" Asked Naruto. **"Because as you are right now, even if you have the memories and techniques of your parents, your strength is not even close to what you'd be facing if this came out to the world."** After he heard this, Naruto began thinking. The big fox had a point. If he told someone, who's to say that there isn't someone eavesdropping on them. The result could be devastating.

I guess you have a point, Kyuubi-san." Said Naruto as he looked at the Kyuubi. He then realized what had happened only a few minutes ago. "Wait, what happened to Hanako-neechan?!" The Kyuubi only lowered his head and said **"I am sorry. She did not survive. The kunai struck her heart and she died instantly. For what it's worth though, young man, you got your revenge instantaneously. You killed the men and avenged that young woman."**

Naruto's eyes grew wide in shock. He had killed someone. Sure, he had his parents' memories but that didn't matter. HE HAD JUST KILLED SOMEONE AND HE WAS FIVE YEARS OLD! The Kyuubi sighed, the boy was going into an emotional shock. He decided to handle it the best way he could: through fear. And so, he roared.

" **YOU DID WHAT YOU HAD TO DO, YOU LITTLE BRAT! IT WAS EITHER YOU, OR THEM! YOU ARE NOT A MONSTER FOR USING MY CHAKRA TO KILL YOUR ENEMIES. NO, YOU ARE THE EXACT OPPOSITE! NOW GO BACK TO THE WORLD OF THE LIVING BECAUSE I HAVE JUST GOTTEN A HEADACHE FROM WATCHING YOU GO INTO A FUCKING SHOCK WITHOUT A REASON!"**

* * *

 ***end flashback***

* * *

After that event, he had gone through counseling for the grief and emotional trauma that it had caused him. He didn't like killing, but he knew what he had to do to survive in this world. It turned out that the men had been from Kumogakure, much like with the incident that involved Hinata. He suddenly sensed a chakra build up.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" he heard a voice call out. He looked to his left and saw a fireball closing in on him. He quickly sidestepped it and looked at who had fired it. It was clearly a shinobi.

'The fuck?! A There wasn't supposed to be any shinobi here!' Naruto thought. This was bad, he hadn't anticipated a shinobi to be there. He studied his opponent and saw the leaf headband. 'A Konoha Nuke-nin? What the fuck? I don't recognise him from the bingo book.' He thought, as he got ready for battle. The man was a lot longer than Naruto, had a standard Konoha chuunin outfit, minus the vest. His headband was slashed, which gave away the rogue element. The nuke-nin also had a Katana on his back. 'I should stay away from close combat. He's most likely physically stronger than I am.'

"Who are you?" The blonde asked. The shinobi only laughed and said "I am Satoshi Kiba, former chuunin of Konoha. Who might you be, little kid?"

"Sorry, that's classified."Said Naruto, smirking under his mask. "Thanks for telling me your name though, Kiba." It hit, the nuke-nin got irritated by his behavior. Kiba went through hand-seals and fired six small fireballs: indicating the Katon: Housenka no Jutsu. Naruto jumped into the air and spun a few times, throwing four shuriken as he dodged the small fireballs. He landed on his feet and the shuriken multiplied by five each.

Kiba's eyes widened. He didn't see this coming. The brat had just used a B-rank technique. He quickly drew his sword and parried as many as he can, but a few of them wounded his arms and legs. He fell down and started panting. "Shit, I got careless." He muttered. He looked up and saw Naruto running fast towards him. He stood up and raced towards the blonde as fast as he could, intending to go for close-combat.

"I WILL NOT BE BEATEN BY A LITTLE BRAT!" he roared, charging with his blade in poised towards Naruto. As the blade was about to hit him, Naruto moved his body to the left and pressed his index finger on Kiba's arm, sending some chakra through it.. The nuke-nin dropped his sword and screamed in agony. He had just hit a pressure point in the arm. Naruto then lost balance and skidded on the ground before regaining it and broke off the speed with his legs as he slid on the ground, panting.

"And I'm not going to die today either, Kiba-san." Said the blonde as he stood up. Kiba looked at his right arm. He couldn't use it. "WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO TO MY ARM, BRAT?!" He yelled. Naruto sighed. This man had abandoned his village and attacked him on a mission. That was the final mark of betrayal. He knew that Kiba had to die.

'FUCK, I underestimated this fucking brat!'Kiba thought 'How could I be so stupid?! Konoha doesn't send children into combat without reasons!' Naruto was closing in on him. He decided to get up and start running. Naruto sighed. Kiba wasn't a threat to him and he knew that. He wasn't a part of the mission parameters. He decided to start opening the cages and let the prisoners out. As he was letting the last ones out, one of them approached him with a happy smile and tears in her eyes.

"Thank you, shinobi-san. Thank you." She said, as she hugged him. His eyes widened. He didn't need their gratitude. He was just doing his job. He returned the hug nonetheless as he let a tear down his cheek.

As they broke off the hug, the young woman took a good look at the boy. Her eyes widened as she realized that the shinobi in question was just a little kid. She also saw the sadness in his eyes. 'What made you this way?' she thought as she continued to stare at him. But before she could say anything, Jiraiya came out from the woods.

"Good work, Naruto." He said, as he looked around the battlefield with a hint of sadness in his eyes. 'I hope this didn't break him.' The sannin thought.

"Why did Konoha send such a young man?" asked the young woman to Jiraiya. She didn't get his answer from him however, it came from Naruto. "I requested it..." Her eyes widened. The boy had requested a mission like this? "Why?" She asked, sobbing. Naruto just looked at her with sadness in his eyes as he said "Because I want to protect those who can't protect themselves."

She looked at him in wonder. The boy had taken it upon himself to become a protector. A shield for the ones who couldn't defend themselves. A she was thinking, a little girl approached Naruto.

"Nii-chan, thank you for saving us." She said. Naruto looked at her for a moment before eye smiling and thinking 'This is what I fight for.' He then put his hand on the girl's head and ruffled her hair. "No problem, kid." He said. Had they seen his mouth, they'd see a genuine smile. Jiraiya decided to butt in. it was clear that the boy wasn't emotionally broken. He went over to the boy and whispered in his ear.

"New mission parameters: escort the civilians to the closest town." With that, he told all of them to round up to a line and start walking. This part of the mission was pretty uneventful. Naruto had created five Kage Bunshin to guard the back, each with a Jutsu-Shiki kunai on them that wouldn't dispel, should they do. He decided to speak to Jiraiya.

"Jiraiya-sensei… You saw what happened on the battlefield, right?" He asked. Jiraiya nodded before saying "Yes. I also saw you take care of that chuunin. I'm surprised you didn't take him out though. It seemed easy by the way you handled the bandits." Naruto sighed.

"He wasn't threat to me. He may be in the future but he isn't one now. And as for the bandits, it was almost too easy…" The blonde said with sadness. "I just hope I won't lose myself to the darkness like Itachi-senpai did." Jiraiya was surprised. He must've held Itachi in high regards for him to still call him his superior. 'This boy is showing wisdom way beyond his age…'

"What is your dream, Naruto?" Jiraiya asked, surprising the boy at the sudden question. He blushed as he answered "My dream is to become strong enough to take up my father's mantle as the Hokage, and bring peace to this world." Jiraiya smiled. This boy had a powerful dream.

'He might just be the one, Fukasaku-sensei…'

* * *

 **AN:** And that's a wrap up! It's slightly shorter than the last one but it was really fun writing it. I got to dwell into Naruto's past that has been a sort of a mystery to you guys. I hope that you enjoyed it and leave a review and I'll try to answer it either in an author's note or in a PM!

Stay tuned for the next chapter ;)


	7. Chapter 6

**Namikaze**

 **Chapter 6**

* * *

 **Three days later, Konohagakure**

Naruto was walking down the road towards the Ramen stand, coming from the Hokage's office after the mission report. It had been a few days since he had eaten their delicious ramen. The mission had been a success, although it had become rather complicated after Satoshi Kiba arrived to fight Naruto. As the blonde boy was walking down, he recalled what they discussed back at the briefing.

* * *

 ***flashback to a thirty minutes ago***

* * *

Naruto (Now unmasked) and Jiraiya stood in front of the Hokage and Umino Iruka. They had just gotten back from an extermination/rescue/escort mission. The parameters had changed halfway and they had to do more than what they had been asked to do from the start.

"So, how did the mission go, Naruto?" The Hokage asked. Said genin walked forward and started doing his mission debriefing.

"Mission success, Hokage-sama." He started. "We got to the target location and went over the mission parameters once more. Jiraiya ordered me to do it alone, as a test." At this, Both the Hokage and Iruka looked at Jiraiya for confirmation. They got it and Naruto continued.

"I used Shunshin no Jutsu to get myself into the camp unnoticed, and continuously used it afterwards to eliminate the threat." He said, before taking a breath as he continued. "However, when I was done neutralizing the target with lethal force, an unforeseen factor came into play: Satoshi Kiba." At this, their eyes widened. Satoshi Kiba was a chuunin coming from the same batch of shinobi as Iruka. He was proficient in both Kenjutsu and Katon ninjutsu. It was even said that this man was supposed to become a jounin, had he not retired from the ninja force a year ago, leaving the village.

"I fought him and neutralized him as a threat. He is however still alive, and somewhere in the Fire Country. I suggest branding him as a Nuke-nin of C-rank level, maybe B-rank because of his proficiency in Ninjutsu and Kenjutsu." Finished Naruto. The Hokage then looked at Jiraiya to continue the debriefing. Said Sannin stepped forward and started.

"After Kiba retreated into the woods, Naruto started releasing the hostages. It was at that time that I got word from you, Hokage-sama that we were to escort them to the closest village. That part of the mission was uneventful and we stayed in the town for a day to make sure that they were truly safe." The Sannin finished. The Hokage nodded before smiling towards Naruto.

"Well done, Naruto-kun." Hiruzen started. "You have come a long way in the past few days. Now back to the mission. Naruto, you suggested that Kiba is to be marked as a Nuke-nin of B-rank calibre?" At this, Naruto nodded. "Very well, he shall be marked as a traitor for attacking one of our own shinobi with the approach of capture or kill. Well done on this mission, Naruto-kun. And thank you Jiraiya for observing Naruto as he did this mission." The duo nodded, then Hiruzen continued.

"However, there is something else I need to discuss with the two of you." Their eyes narrowed towards the Hokage as he continued. "Naruto, I would like you to look at this bingo book. Open page 25." With that, he gave Naruto the book who took it and started reading, as his eyes widened slightly. He started over and started reading out loud.

" **Alias:** Shunshin no Naruto. **Real Name:** Naruto (last name unknown, presumably Namikaze) **Age:** unknown, presumably 8 **Affiliation:** Konohagakure no Satõ **Rank:** Genin (?) **Level:** C-rank, potentially B-rank **Skills:** Has shown the ability to use Kunai Kage-Bunshin no Jutsu and is extremely proficient in Shunshin no Jutsu. Naruto has also got knowledge of the human anatomy, being able to hit pressure points. His battle senses are beyond his age, be aware. (Potential sensor) **Approach:** Capture. **Note:** Hair and eyes resembles the Yondaime Hokage: Namikaze Minato, Konoha no Kiiroi Senkõ. Proceed with caution. **Signed by:** Unknown. "

When he was done reading, he turned to Hiruzen with wide eyes. After a few seconds he regained himself and asked "My first mission and I'm already in the fucking bingo book, huh? Well, ain't that a bitch?" At this, the other three laughed as Naruto sighed. Someone must've either spied on them as they were doing the mission. "Yes Naruto, this means that you will have to be extra careful during missions. Hope you understand that." The Hokage said, to which Naruto nodded.

"But, how the hell did they get the information so fast and put it into a bingo book?!" Naruto asked. At this, the Hokage frowned. He truly had no idea. The bingo book came with a messenger pigeon only a few hours before Naruto and Jiraiya had returned from the mission.

"I have no idea. But for now, proceed with caution during missions, Naruto-kun. Now go and get some rest. Your payment will be sent to your account. Congratulations on your first mission, Naruto-kun. Especially for your first B-rank. You're dismissed." Naruto's face split in half. His first mission had been a B-rank mission. He resisted the urge to jump up in the air and cheer like a hyperactive brat. He resisted that urge a lot. 'God damn genes from my mother. Stupid hyperactive redhead…' he thought.

* * *

 ***End Flashback***

* * *

As he came back to his senses, he had arrived at his destination. He walked in and saw two of his old classmates: Nara Shikamaru and Akamichi Chouji. He smiled, it had been a while since he had been able to talk to them. He sat down and waited for either Ayame or Teuchi to come out from the back.

"Hey guys, how are ya?" he asked. They both turned around, and the pineapple-haired sighed, muttering "troublesome." before answering "Hey Naruto-Senpai! We're fine, what about you?"

"Ah, I'm doing great! A little bit hungry cuz I got back from a mission but otherwise I'm fine! What about you Chouji? Gotten any better at Buban Baika no Jutsu?" Naruto asked. He received a smile from Chouji before he said "Yeah! It's getting bigger every week, dude! What kind of mission did you do? Did ya rescue a princess? Thought an evil warlord? C'mon give us the details Naruto-Senpai!"

"Haha, enthusiastic as usual, Chouji-kun. And no, I didn't rescue a princess or fight an evil warlord. I merely fought a bunch of samurai and then escorted some civilian captives to safety." Naruto said, before continuing "But I wouldn't keep your hopes up about getting these kind of missions on the first day. The only reason I got to do it so quickly was because my sensei vouched for me." At that, Chouji sighed.

"Damn, what kind of missions are we gonna do when we graduate, then?" He asked. Naruto frowned as he said "You will be doing D-ranked missions until your teamwork is of adequate level. Those missions are more like chores in my opinion. I've seen genin run around looking for a damn cat and paint fences. Luckily I won't have to deal with those for a while, heh."

They talked for a minute before Ayame came out. She saw Naruto and smiled. "Hey Naruto-kun how are you?" she asked. He turned to her with a heartbreaking smile and said "Hey Ayame-neechan! I'm fine thank you! I'm really hungry though so could I have a bowl of miso ramen?"

Ayame nodded and started on the food. Teuchi then came out and said "Hey brat, how are ya?" in a joking manner. Naruto laughed and answered with "Hey old man, I'm doing well! How are you?"

Teuchi laughed and said "I'm doing perfectly fine! Heard ya got back from a mission though. I take it by your mood it was a success!" Naruto smiled as he scratched his back in embarrassment before saying "Yeah it was a success! Got a B-rank mission in the bag!"

At this, both Chouji and Shikamaru spat out their ramen and yelled "YOU WENT OUT ON A B-RANK MISSION?!" Naruto laughed as he said "Yeah, it was supposed to be a C-rank but it turned out to be a B-rank cuz a former chuunin from this village came and attacked me. I managed to fend him off before Jiraiya-sensei came out of hiding though."

"WAIT A MINUTE! You have THE Jiraiya of the Sannin as your sensei?!" Chouji asked in pure jealousy. "What the hell man, that's freaking awesome! That dude is a legend!" Naruto just laughed. They didn't need to know that Naruto actually took Satoshi Kiba on alone. They didn't need to know that he had done the first part solo, and they absolutely didn't need to know was that he was, in fact, stronger than most chuunin, if not jounin in this village. No, they didn't need to know that.

"Yeah, what can I say? I'm just that awesome!" He answered, letting his inner child have some fun. In the meantime, Shikamaru had been listening to the conversation and just muttered "troublesome blonde…" before continuing with his lunch.

They talked for about thirty minutes while they were eating. After they were done, they told Naruto that they needed to go back to the academy as their lunch break was almost over. Naruto asked them if he could join them, and they nodded and said that it was entirely up to the teacher of the class: Umino Iruka.

"Oh, Iruka-Senpai became a teacher? Must've used his lunch break to be at the mission report…" Naruto said, thinking for a moment. "Come to think of it, he did have his food at the table when I were debriefing them about the mission."

They went to the academy, and Naruto was greeted by everyone they walked by. As they got into their classroom he sat down on one of the chairs that was standing by the door. Iruka saw him and smiled.

"Hey, Naruto-kohai! What are you doing here?" Naruto smiled back and said "Hey, Iruka-Senpai! I just got incredibly bored so I decided to come here and hang with my former classmates. Maybe I can assist you in some things, don't ya think?"

Iruka kept his smile. Naruto wanted to help him with his class. He nodded and said "Yeah sure, why don't you come over here and take over as the teacher for this class? It's history." Naruto smiled. He knew history alright. It was probably one of his favorite subjects.

"Yeah sure." He said. He smirked, and decided to show off a little bit. He used Kawarimi no Jutsu to literally switch place with Iruka. Said individual was surprised at the sudden switch in place, but laughed it off saying "Naruto you're such a show-off…"

Naruto just split his face into a shit-eating grin and laughed. He then looked at Iruka's notes and saw that today's subject was the four Hokage. He suddenly felt a sense of nostalgia. He knew why: his father's memories. He then walked towards the blackboard and took a crayon and started writing down the four names of the Hokages, and their respective titles.

"Okay, let's go! Raise your hands if you know the answers to these questions, alright?" He said, getting nods from the class. He then continued. "Alright, so, what can you guys tell me about the Shodai Hokage, Senju Hashirama?" Several people raised their hands, and he decided to humor himself as he pointed toward Sakura, who took a breath before starting.

"Senju Hashirama was one of the founders of this village. He was at his time renowned as the most powerful shinobi in the world and was given the nickname Shinobi no Kami. That title was later given to his student, the Sandaime Hokage. He had a wife by the name Uzumaki Mito who was a seal master. Shodai-sama had a rare bloodline that gave him the ability to use Mokuton techniques." As she finished, Naruto nodded and said "Alright, very good Sakura-san. Now, Sasuke-san, what can you tell me about the other founder of this village?"

Sasuke nodded, releasing an 'hn' before saying "The other founder of this village was called Uchiha Madara. He was known as the only person who could go toe-to-toe with Shodai-sama. Not much is known about him as they fought at the Valley of the End." Naruto smiled. Sasuke had been doing the homework on his clan.

Naruto then pointed towards the second Hokage's name and said "Alright, who here can tell me something about this man?" Several people held their hands up. Naruto decided that Ino was to be the one who answers the question. She stood up and started.

"The Nidaime Hokage's name was Senju Tobirama. He was the brother of the Shodai Hokage and was renowned as the best Suiton-jutsu user to have ever lived. Not much is known about him, however, as he died during the First Shinobi War after giving the mantle to the Sandaime Hokage." Naruto nodded at Ino in approval. It was a sufficient amount of information. She blushed as she sat down on the bench.

"Alright, now who could tell me something about the old man?" He asked jokingly, earning a few chuckles from the class. Everyone put up their hands. He smiled, people knew something about the current Hokage. He pointed towards Chouji, who stood up and started speaking.

"The Sandaime Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, is the current Hokage who re-took the mantle after the Yondaime Hokage died. He is known as 'The Professor' and the 'Shinobi no Kami for his prowess in ninjutsu and bojutsu. He has led this village through two of the three Great Shinobi Wars and trained the Legendary Sannin." Naruto nodded with a smile. Chouji gave him a lot of information. That was good.

"Alright, I should let you guys talk about the Yondaime. But, it says that you guys haven't gone over him so I'll talk about him for ya. How about that?" He asked, receiving nods. He then put his hand up in the air as he exclaimed "Yosh! Monologue time!" and then he jumped onto the table and started his little story. The students chuckled a little bit at Naruto's antics.

"Alright. The Yondaime Hokage's name was Namikaze Minato and was known throughout the Elemental Countries as The Yellow Flash. He was the only shinobi to receive the order to Flee on Sight, should he be seen on the battlefield. He was taught by the great Jiraiya of the Sannin. His expertise revolved around Fuinjutsu, the art of Sealing. He was also very fast, even without his signature technique Hiraishin no Jutsu, and the enemies would often confuse his Shunshin no Jutsu with Hiraishin no Jutsu." The students were now listening, intrigued by the information. Some of them even had stars in their eyes as they heard Naruto talk with such an affectionate tone about Minato. Almost as if they were related.

"Yondaime-sama had three students by the name of Uchiha Obito, Nohara Rin and Hatake Kakashi. The former two died during the Third Great Shinobi War, but the latter is currently one of Konoha's strongest Shinobi and his considered to be next in line as Hokage along with the two remaining Sannin that are loyal to the village." He took a breath before continuing. "When the war was over, he took the mantle as Hokage, albeit briefly. Yondaime-sama died three years after the war protecting the village against the Kyuubi no Kitsune, sacrificing his life to defeat it."

He jumped down from the table, indicating that he was done talking. All of the children looked at Naruto in amazement and awe. They had no idea that Naruto knew so much about the Yondaime Hokage. Iruka looked at him in amazement as well. Not even he knew this much about Minato. Right before Naruto started talking, the bell rang. The class was over and the break started. He hadn't even noticed the time go by that fast. He had been talking for over an hour.

"Everyone, don't forget to read up on second war until next week!" Said the blonde, remembering it from the notes. Iruka smiled once more, proud of Naruto and his ability to tell the tale of the Yondaime Hokage and even remember what was written down on his notes. The kids ran out of the classroom and soon only Iruka and Naruto were left.

"So, how do you think that went, Iruka-Senpai?" the blonde asked. Iruka looked at him and said "I think it went rather well. The whole class was mesmerized at your storytelling. I hope you can come back some day and help me with them again!" Naruto blushed in embarrassment from the compliment before smiling and scratching the back of his head.

"Yeah sure, I'd love to!" Said Naruto as he went over to the open window and jumped out of it, only to take footing on the wall and started walking down towards the ground. Iruka walked over to the window and looked down and saw Naruto performing the "Tree Walking exercise" and smiled. 'You're really something, Naruto-kun." He thought, leaving the window.

After he had walked out from the Academy Grounds, he started walking home. He had been up all night and he was really tired. He also needed a long shower.

'Man, this day was a really fun day…' He thought, as he walked home.

* * *

 **AN:** And here is another chapter! a slight breather from the last chapter that was a little bit actionpacked, dont ya think? ^^,

Hope you enjoyed it :D See ya next time!


	8. Chapter 7

**AN:** Hi everyone! I'm sorry I haven't made a real update in a while, but with a writer's block and college you can only do so much. Gonna cut this author's note short so we can get on with the story, aiight? There will be a longer note at the end of the chapter.

Anyway, have fun reading this chapter of Namikaze!

* * *

 **Namikaze**

 **Chapter 7**

" _Naruto… you're going to experience a lot of pain and suffering. Remember who you are! Find a goal… a dream… and don't stop trying until it comes true. There's… there's so much more that I want to say… to teach you… I want to stay with you… I love you."_

"GASP!"

Naruto woke up with a swing, his upper body rocking up in the air. The memories, his parents' memories, were invading his dreams. The worst part was that he saw it through their perspective. It was annoying as he couldn't get much sleep when they came.

He sighed. He couldn't do anything about it other than taking an aspirin and hope it would tone down the headache it gave him. At least they weren't flooding his brain like the Kage-Bunshin memories does. No, they came in waves in the form of dreams. First, it was his father's and then came his mother's.

"Can't be helped…" he sighed once more as he got up from his makeshift bed that was a futon. He walked towards the sink and drowned his face in water to cool himself down. The memories were annoying, but it gave him some form of reassurance that his parents loved him. At least he knew who they were. At least he knew that loved him.

" **Pfft! Too many feelings, brat."** Came a dark voice.

"Urgh, why the fuck are you up?" the "brat" asked "Aren't you supposed to sleep for a few more years?"

" **Nah, couldn't sleep… too many mushy memories strolling through your brain."** The dark voice replied. Naruto sighed once again. This day was going to be long if Kyuubi had decided to wake up and annoy him to death. **"Your brain is a mess by the way. You know that, right?"**

"Yeah I know, furball," The chibi-yondaime replied, only to receive a growl in response. "Mind going to sleep again? I kinda don't want to deal with you in my head right now? You're not making it any better when you're awake."

" **Brat, show some respect! I'm the god damn Kyuu-!"** Kyuubi was cut off by Naruto as he blocked the seal from his mind. He didn't mind talking to the Kyuubi, but right now he was in such a mental mess he couldn't deal with the oversized fox.

"*Sigh* Do I even have anything to do today?" Naruto mused "Even if I wasn't on leave, I wouldn't be able to do a mission anyway. Jiraiya left me behind here in Konoha to chase his old teammate. Man, if that happened to me I'd just straight up kill the traitor…"

With a final sigh he took a cylinder containing the aspirins from the shelf before pouring a water into a glass and putting one of the water-dissolving pills in it. He looked at the pill that was dissolving, seemingly lost in thought.

' _I'm stuck in the village with only D-ranks and training unless I can find a team to do C-ranks with… That ain't happening, Oji-san is coddling me way too much and the only man he'd put me under would be Jiraiya."_

"This sucks… am I really gonna be stuck here in the village until ero-sennin comes back -teba-" He stopped himself and frowned.

…

"God damnit I thought I got rid of that verbal tick. Ugh, at least I haven't used it publicly in a few years." He resisted the urge to sigh as he gulped down the aspirin water. He put the glass down on the counter and went to his room to get dressed. Today's outfit was a simple one as he wasn't on duty for today. He had been given a day off as he had just gotten back from a B-rank mission.

He decided to wear an orange shirt with the Uzumaki insignia on its back and a pair of dark blue cargo pants. He still wore his sandals as they were comfortable. The pants' pockets were reinforced and could therefor hold a few kunai without them tearing through it, which was perfect in case of emergency. He put his headband on and put a few of his Hiraishin-kunai into the biggest pocket located on his leg before walking out of the room. As he did so, he sensed a familiar source of chakra appear in his living room. He let it slide as he didn't think much of it, giving the man the option to reveal himself before breakfast.

When he got into the living-room area he looked up at the clock that was hanging on the wall. It was five in the morning and it was his day off.

"Fuck my life I hate this shitty seal you put on me, tou-chan." He muttered, "It might hold the Kyuubi just fine, but you're the problem right now-tebayo..:"

…

"God damnit!" He smacked his palm into his forehead-protector and once again resisted the urge to sigh. Yep, today was going to be a long day.

He went to the kitchen area and got some cereal out of the cabin and milk out of the fridge and put it on the counter. He then took a bowl from the plate rack and poured some of the cereal into it. He then poured the milk into it and carefully balanced the bowl on his way to the table before putting it down. He then sat down and started eating it, before looking into a corner with a deadpan expression.

"Ya know, Inu-senpai, if ya want to join me you can." He stated as an ANBU with grey hair shimmered into existence with his hand scratching his head in embarrassment.

"Heh, knew you'd sense me at some point." Inu stated, earning a grunt from be blonde.

"C'mon, join me for some breakfast... unless you've already had your fill, that is." Naruto said. The ANBU took his mask off and went towards the kitchen and got himself a bowl of cereal as well. He then sat down in front of Naruto with an eyesmile.

"Ya know, you pour the milk in first." Inu stated, earning another grunt from Naruto who was busy shoving down the cereal and milk into his mouth.

"The fuck you talking 'bout, Senpai?" Naruto asked with a deadpan expression "No you don't! you pour the cereal into the bowl first!"

"Mah mah, Naruto-kun. No need to be feisty," Inu said with his trademark eyesmile before continuing. "so, what are you gonna do today? I heard your shishou bolted last night."

"*Sigh* Yeah, I've got a day off before I start doing missions again. Figured I'd walk around town and maybe hang out with the academy students again," Naruto said, "It's not like I got much else to do other than that and train. Dunno what I'd train though."

"Ehh, maybe I can show you a technique or something? My day, after all, consists of keeping you safe." Inu stated, his visible eye still in the formation of an eyesmile. Naruto just looked at the ANBU captain with a confused look. "The fuck, kashi-nii? Why do I need protection? I'm a shinobi of the leaf-tebayo!" he exclaimed, clearly confused.

"Yeah well, you're a genin that has been put in the bingo book already. Because of this, Hokage-sama decided that it is our best interest to have a strong shinobi protecting you at all time. Besides, I get to spend some time with my little brother." Kakashi mused.

"Ugh… you do realize that if I'm in trouble I can just fly away from the scene, right?" Naruto asked, disturbed by the fact that the Hokage was coddling him to this level, even resorting to put an ANBU detail on him for protection. Kakashi just eyesmiled as he let out a chuckle.

"Yeah that's true I guess. Speaking of Hiraishin, how do you even know it?" he asked, before elaborating "There's only three people that know how to use it and they only know how to use it when they're together. I asked them if they had taught it to you and they said that they haven't."

"I'll answer your question with another question: how much did you hear about my short rant?" Naruto asked in return.

"All of it. Brought up a lot of confusion:" Kakashi stated.

"Well, Tou-chan fucked the seal up, somehow. Not even I know how he managed to do that. Not the part holding the Kyuubi, but the part holding Kaa-chan's and his own essence in place." Naruto said. At this, Kakashi's eyes widened. What was he talking about? Had Minato tried to seal Kushina and himself into Naruto?

"To be there for me in the future, in case the seal broke or I had decided to take control of the Kyuubi's chakra, they were going to seal a part of themselves into me. They screwed up hard though, as their memories, knowledge and experiences flooded my brain and almost overloaded it." Said the blonde, ending with a sigh to catch his breath before continuing.

"Do ya know how disturbing it is to have dreams about your parents' having sex from both of their perspectives?" He asked with a disturbed look on his face. Kakashi's face went into a disturbed frown with a tint of red honing the cheeks.

"Dude… I so didn't need to know that." Kakashi said with a small blush that went unnoticed by Naruto because of his mask. "So, in a sense, you're literally a chibi-yondaime?"

"Yep, I've known how to use Hiraishin ever since I was born… I guess you could say I was born with it." The child joked, earning a chuckle from the elder in the room.

"Well, that answers that question… But why haven't you told Sandaime-sama about this?" Kakashi asked.

"Because I'd rather keep it a secret, never know who might be listening in. this is the only place I consider to be a safe haven for my stories as it's protected by Uzumaki-style silencing and barrier seals," Naruto replied with a smug look on his face. "Besides, he never asked."

"Damn, so you really have both of their fuinjutsu under your repertoire, huh?"

"Yep, couldn't get any better than that, right?"

"Nope, if it wasn't for your weak body you'd be probably be bumped up to jõnin in an instant."

…

"Hey, I take offense to that, nii-chan!" Naruto exclaimed, clearly bemused by his older brother who just looked at him before he stood up and walked over to the chibi and ruffled his hair into a mess. "God damnit, nii-chan! This is the first time in weeks that my hair hasn't become a mess after sleeping-tebayo! Now I have to fix it, you jerk!"

"weren't you trying to get rid of that verbal tick, otouto?" Kakashi mused, earning a sigh from the brat.

"Please don't remind me of that, niichan… Anyway, you really don't need to protect me. If I can detect you I can probably detect most assassins and alike, you know that right?" the Jinchuuriki asked.

"Orders are orders. Besides, took you a while to sense me."

"I sensed you entering the place when I went into my room. Just thought I'd give you a chance to reveal yourself." This hurt Kakashi's pride somewhat. If Naruto could detect him, then he really needed to step up his game.

"Oh." Was the reply the brat got.

"Don't worry, there aren't many people who can get the jump on me, niichan. Anyway, I'm gonna go and take a walk, you're welcome to join me if you want to."

"Nah, I'll go and report to the Hokage… he's probably gonna throw a fit at me for not concealing myself well enough for a genin to find me."

"Pfft, not even the Shinobi no Yami can get the jump on me, much less you, niichan." Naruto said with his trademarked shit-eating grin plastered on his face. Kakashi just sighed at his little brother's antics before putting on the ANBU mask and waved goodbye. With that, he Shunshin'd out of Naruto's apartment to make his way towards the Hokage tower.

Meanwhile Naruto looked at the clock again and saw that it was now half past six. _'Time flies, eh? Good, the store should have opened by now… gotta get some groceries.'_

" **Mind giving me some food as well, brat?"** The dark voice of Kyuubi sparked up, earning a tick mark on Naruto's forehead.

' _God fucking damnit I thought I blocked your voice out already!'_ Naruto exclaimed in his mind, earning a howling laughter from the oversized fox.

" **Pfft! As if, brat! I just got bored of you."** The fox laughed, which clearly disturbed the blonde as his face turned into a frown.

"Ugh, Can't deal with this right now…" Naruto muttered as he walked out of the apartment's front door, instantly shoving himself into a girl, knocking her down and dragging him with her.

He landed on her breasts face-first in confusion. He sat up and saw who he had knocked down. The girl was around 16 years old and had black and blue hair and a headband on her forehead. She was wearing a sleeveless fishnet mesh shirt with fishnet armbands reaching her elbows. He looked at her face and saw who it was. It was Mitarashi Anko, the apprentice of the traitorous Sannin Orochimaru. He saw that she was blushing a deep red.

"Ehh, sorry, Anko-Senpai. Didn't see you there." The boy said, as he bowed his head. She looked at him in disbelief as her blush faded, now confused as to what just happened. Most people looked at her with pure hate. But here she was, looking at a young genin who clearly knew who she was, apologizing to her.

"Mah, it's alright brat, if you wanted to touch them all you'd need to do is ask." She mused perversely at him, as his head flew up in the air with the same deep red color as the one she donned just a few seconds ago. His arms quickly flew up into a cross-guard.

"No no, I'd never do something like that-tebayo! I have way too much respect for women to even ask such a question!" He exclaimed, clearly embarrassed at to what just happened.

' _Thought she'd have much more self-respect though… can't be helped I guess. She gets the same treatment her Shishou is given in this village. I wonder… would I've been treated the same way had Oji-san not kept my status as a Jinchuuriki under wraps?'_ he mused, still a bit embarrassed.

" **Most likely, you humans fear everything that you can't understand or control."** Came the voice of the oversized furball.

Meanwhile, Anko thought something completely different.

' _Is he serious? I don't sense a single bit of malice from him. Does he really not think bad of me or is he trying to trick me?'_ She questioned him in her thoughts, before looking at the boy who had just calmed down. They sat there for a few seconds, looking at each other before Naruto broke the silence.

"Ya know, I really don't get the whole deal with treating you like crap," He started, causing her eyes to widen. "What? Just cuz you're the apprentice of a traitor doesn't mean you're supposed to be treated like trash-tebayo…" He sighed.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is that if you ever need someone to talk to, I am here for you." He finished as he saw her look of utter disbelief. Had he read her mind? Was he telepathic or something? How the hell did he know what she was thinking?

"I'm not reading your mind. I just know the look of someone hiding the pain." He stated. "I don't like seeing people in pain, much less for something they don't deserve." This statement caused a tear to form in her right eye. Her mask that kept her emotions from surfacing was already beginning to crack. She quickly stood up and ran past him, refusing to believe that he was actually serious about what he said.

As he stood up, he sighed in dismay. He really wanted this girl to trust him. He really wanted to be there for her, much like Minato had been there for Kushina. Suddenly he remembered what happened when he rescued Hinata from that Kumo-nin.

' _What a fucking Deja-vu that was… it was a mix between kaa-chan being rescued by tou-chan, and tou-chan putting me down in the crib the day I was born… Wow, I really do take after tou-chan, don't I?'_ He mused before he walked down the stairs that Anko came from. There was no need to rush anything today. He had all day to do jack shit and he knew that.

He strolled through the village towards one of the grocery stores, waving back at people who greeted him. _'Maybe I should pay a visit to Sasuke and his parents later on. Yeah, that'd be nice.'_ He mused as he entered the grocery store and picked up a basket.

After a few minutes, he walked out of the grocery store with two bags of food and whatnot and walked back home to fill his fridge. The people around him looked at him curiously. It was not every day you saw an eight-year old buy their own food. That was usually handled by their parents or their elder siblings. It amused him.

He did this a lot, but he usually didn't walk back to his house as he more than often resorted to either use Hiraishin or Shunshin to get back to his apartment quickly. But, that didn't matter. He had the whole day to do whatever he wanted to do and it was only little over seven in the morning.

He walked up the stairs, and saw Anko sitting next to his door with her legs pressed towards her chest and arms wrapped around them. He saw the sad look on her face and the black tears from her messed up makeup that had rolled down her cheeks.

' _She's an emotional mess… What made her this way?'_ he asked himself, as he walked up to her while sealing his groceries in a storage-scroll. She didn't notice him, as she just stared out of the holes in the protective rail from the balcony that she was sitting on. He sat down next to her and looked at her curiously, wondering when she was going to be broken out of her stupor.

She was however clearly aware of him, as she laid her head on his shoulder. He blushed a little. This wasn't what he was expecting when he sat down next to her. He just wanted to tease her to get her mood up a little but he never got a chance. He was surprised by the affection she was giving him. She had clearly thought about what happened forty-five minutes ago. He decided to do what he wanted to do from the start.

"Ehh, Anko-Chan… I know I'm cute and all, but you don't need to rub your cheeks on my shoulder, ya know." He joked, causing her to blush as well. He gently pushed her a little bit before standing up, holding a hand out for her to take to help her up. She took it and stood up, before releasing his hand. She looked at him.

' _Huh, he's really tall for someone of his age.'_ She mused as she wiped the tears from her face with her arm. When she was done, she looked at him again and blushed a little, again. He had a smile on his face that she thought was really cute. What she didn't know was that this was the mischievous smile. She was surprised however when he had taken her hand, unlocked his door and rushed into his apartment with her almost stumbling forward.

"C'mon, let's get you cleaned up, Anko-Chan!" He said, still smiling. He brought her into the bathroom and sat her down on the toilet seat. She was really confused at his actions.

"Ya know… a pretty lady like you shouldn't cry…" he said while filling the sink with water. She blushed again. His words affected her more than they should've.

' _What is wrong with me? Why is my emotional mask broken so easily by this kid?'_ She thought. It was clear that he really cared for her, but she didn't want to open up to someone this fast. Especially not some random brat that accidentally bumped into her.

He took a towel from the hook on the wall and put it in the water-filled sink. The water didn't overflow the sink, however, and the towel only got somewhat wet. He then turned towards Anko, who looked at his face. She could see his ocean-blue yet warm eyes bore into her own and her blush only intensified.

' _His eyes… they're beautiful…'_ she thought. He had similar thoughts but contained the blush. He shook his head as he took the wet towel and started to clean up the mascara that had run down her cheeks.

' _Why is he doing this for me?'_ she thought, at a loss for words. She really didn't know what to think of this boy. In just a few minutes he had broken her emotional barrier and here he was, cleaning up the mess on her face. She wanted to believe, she really did. But the two years she had spent in Konoha, being called many things, snake-whore being one of the names she had been given, she had very little trust left in anyone. There weren't many who liked her as she could count the amount of people that she could call friends with one hand.

"Why… Why are you doing this for me?" She muttered with a sad look on her face. He didn't like it. He didn't want to see a cute girl such as Anko be sad and vulnerable. He knew that she was pretty strong. Hell, she was a chuunin for a reason and was considered to be promoted to Special Jounin.

"I do this because I don't like it when people are sad," He responded with a gentle voice. She looked at him in confusion, she hadn't expected that. "I know what happened to you two years ago, and I don't care if your former shishou was a traitor. You haven't done anything wrong so the way people are treating you is wrong, and if you'd like to… I'd like to be your friend, Anko-chan."

At this, her eyes widened as tears started flowing from her eyes. This boy, he had broken through her emotional defenses with little effort. He had utterly destroyed them, and his words moved her. The tears that were going down her cheeks weren't of negative emotions. They were of happiness. She couldn't sense a single hint of lie in his voice. She launched herself towards him, wrapping her arms around him as she buried her head into his neck, letting her tears flow in happiness. He embraced her hug with welcoming arms.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you…" she cried out. He smiled, at least she could get some happiness in her life. When he had seen her eyes, he knew that she was a mess and that she needed someone to help her.

"Anko-chan, I know I shouldn't ask you this… but why were you outside of my door?" he asked gently, as they broke apart. She looked at him once again with a sad look. He didn't like that look one bit.

"I… I was evicted last night…" she said with a sob forced down her throat. "I don't know what to do, no landlord but the one for this apartment complex would let me rent and this one is full…" he sighed. His apartment was pretty big. He had a spare room that he rarely used.

' _I guess it can't be helped…'_ the blonde thought, before he chuckled as a smile was plastered onto his face, which confused her. "Why don't you stay with me then? I have a second bedroom that is unused." The look on her face amused him a little bit. She had pure shock written all over her.

"Huh?" was all that came out of her mouth. He cracked into a howling laughter, breaking her out of her stupor.

"Yeah! If this landlord is the only one that will rent an apartment out for ya, you might as well just live with me, right?" He exclaimed, toning his laugh down to a chuckle. She joined him with a chuckle, wiping the tears from her cheeks once again. She once embraced him in an affectional hug, which he once again embraced.

"Thank you, Naruto-kun…" she said, before breaking the hug. He smiled, she was already getting better. He turned around before looking back at her, motioning with his head for her to follow. She nodded as she stood up, and followed him out of the bathroom.

"You must be hungry and tired, Anko-chan." He said softly. She nodded her head slightly, which clearly was noticed by the young blonde. He looked at the clock on the wall. 9 am. They had been in there for almost two hours, he mused.

He motioned her to sit down at the table as he walked towards the kitchen area, unsealing all of his groceries before putting them in the cabins and fridge. She looked at him curiously.

' _This boy… he knows how to use storage seals…'_ she thought, before she saw him whip out a bento from the fridge. He walked towards her with the bento and two chopsticks in hand and put them down in front of her.

"Make yourself at home, Anko-chan. I'm gonna go and talk to Oji-san and inform him of you staying here, kay?" he said, earning a nod from him.

With that, he vanished from sight, startling the poor girl, she had never seen anyone move that fast in her life. Not even Orochimaru was that fast.

* * *

Naruto appeared upside down on the ceiling in the Hokage's office. He looked down and saw three chuunin stand in front of the Hokage. He resisted the urge to laugh, as they didn't notice him up on the ceiling. The chuunin bowed to the Hokage before walking out of the office.

" **They clearly don't know how to sense people, do they?"** came the Kyuubi's voice from his head, forcing Naruto resist the urge to snort in amusement.

' _Can't be helped, I'm only able to suppress my presence because I'm a sensor.'_ The blonde replied. Seeing as there was no reply from the fox he deducted that he had nothing more to say.

"You can come down now, Naruto-kun." Hiruzen stated, amused by the boy's demeanor. Naruto jumped down, startling the ANBU that was stationed in the office.

' _I didn't even notice him…'_ was the thought that ran through their minds. Hiruzen looked at Naruto. Clearly there was something that had disturbed him, otherwise he wouldn't come here today. It was his day off after all.

"What is troubling you, Naruto-kun." The leader of the village asked. Naruto sighed as he looked into the eyes of his grandfather-figure.

"I came here to tell you that Anko-chan has been evicted from her apartment." He stated. Hiruzen's left eyebrow flew up at this. This was something he wanted to hear.

"And how do you know this?" he asked.

"She's in my apartment right now, eating a bento I made yesterday from the left-over food I made."

"Ahh… am I to assume that you are going to be taking her in under your care?" said the amused man. Naruto sighed as he raised his hand and drew it through his hair.

"Yeah… not much else I can do. She doesn't deserve all the hate she's getting from the villagers…" he said, "I wonder what would've happened to me if you hadn't kept _that_ a secret."

The stationed ANBU got confused at this. Was there something about the boy that they didn't know about? Was secret would cause the people of Konoha to hate him?

"hmm, yes, it is most likely a good thing I did, seeing how Anko is being treated." Stated the old man. He sighed as he looked at his surrogate grandson. The boy had matured much faster than he should've. It couldn't be helped. Kumo's failed infiltration is what caused him to be this way.

At least the boy was able to see past the actions of others, and had problems hating someone else. It was a quality Hiruzen loved about the boy. It was not something that was to be taken for granted, however, as the boy was intelligent and cunning, and could see through lies and deceit with little to no effort.

Hiruzen sighed once more as he looked at the boy. "I'll get the paperwork done for you, Naruto-kun. I thank you for letting her in. she is an emotionally fragile young lady that was dealt the wrong cards at an early age."

"Hmm, yeah I know about the connection between her and your student. Might not like the snake, but she's got nothing to do with him." The boy stated. This earned him a smile of approval from Hiruzen. Then, out of nowhere, a Kage-Bunshin from Naruto popped out of nowhere, before it vanished from the room. The old man snorted in amusement. Not many people had the mastery to create a seal-less Kage-Bunshin with little effort as Naruto did.

The ANBU around the room looked at the boy in amazement. They had heard about the boy's mastery in Kage-Bunshin and the boy's insane speed, but they thought it was exaggerated.

' _Damn, this boy is good.'_ Another collective thought that went through the mind of the ANBU operatives inside of the room.

Naruto, amused at the fact that he could sense the amazement from the genjutsu-concealed ANBU looked at the Hokage before saying "So, while I was away, has anything happened to the remaining Uchiha?" At this, Hiruzen sighed.

"No, they're shaken that their family member would do something like this… I just wished it never had happened." The old man stated while looking into the boy's eyes. It confirmed things for the both of them. For Naruto, it meant that Itachi had spoken the truth, and to Hiruzen it meant that Naruto knew about the truth behind the Uchiha Massacre.

"I'd refrain from visiting them for a few days, Naruto-kun. I don't believe anyone of them wants to talk to anyone at this point." He stated, earning a nod from Naruto.

' _Well, there goes my plan for today…"_ he thought.

"Well, I better go now, I'll see ya later Oji-san." Naruto stated before vanishing like his clone did a few minutes prior.

* * *

Naruto's clone appeared in his apartment and looked at the young woman that was sitting at the table, eating the bento in a rapid manner. He walked towards her with an amused look on his face. She was either too into eating the bento or she genuinely didn't sense him close to her. He stood behind her for a few seconds, clearly amused by the fact that she was devouring the food he made the day before. She moaned in delight with every bite, much to his amusement.

He decided to put his finger to her side, causing her to fly up into the air in both fear and embarrassment. She landed with her feet on the chair with the chopsticks in each hand, frantically looking around her before locking her eyes on the amused blonde that was looking up at her with a shit-eating grin of mischief. She relaxed her muscles and sighed, if the boy kept this up he'd give her a heart attack.

"God damnit, brat why did you do that?!" she cried out, earning a laughter from the clone. The clone lost control of his laughter and fell down on the ground, rolling around laughing while holding his sides.

"Haha that was fun! Haha!" he exclaimed in-between his laughter. Anko shook her head, clearly not amused at the boy's antics.

"So, weren't you going to the Hokage's office?" she asked, jumping down from the chair.

"Yeah, Boss is still there! I'm just a Kage-Bunshin." The clone stated. Anko's eyes widened into the size of saucers. _'The fuck?! A Kage-Bunshin?!_ ' She thought. _'Naruto… Just how many secrets do you have?'_ After a few moments the clone had calmed down and was up on his feet again.

"Well, I can see that you're done with the bento. Let me clean that up for ya." Said the blonde before taking the chopsticks from her hands and the bento from the table. He then walked towards the kitchen and put the dishes down in the sink before turning on the water to clean them off just a little bit.

Anko had in the meantime walked to the couch and laid down, promptly falling asleep after a long cold night. The clone looked at her with amazement. Someone so troubled was able to look so peaceful. He walked towards one of his drawers and pulled out a blanket. He then walked to the teenage girl and put the blanket over her.

' _So peaceful…'_ he mused, before silently vanishing to a random location so that he could dispel without waking her up.

* * *

Meanwhile, Naruto had appeared on top of the monument that harbored third's face. He looked down onto the village. It was peaceful and the view was amazing. The birds flying over the village, the sun shining on the roofs and the children running towards the academy. He sighed happily. This was relaxing. He needed more of these days where shit didn't hit the fan.

Suddenly, his eyes flew up onto the sky, his body tensing up for a second as the memories of his clone invaded his mind. He relaxed and smiled. Anko was fast asleep and had apparently enjoyed her early meal. _'Good, it looked like she needed it.'_ He thought as he looked down at the children running through the main street of Konoha. They were happily playing around. He thought about joining them, but resorted to not doing so. He had outgrown his friends at the academy and the other children in the village.

' _I wonder what they're up to anyway…'_ he thought. _'I could go and visit them… I wonder if Iruka is working today.'_

" **You ain't gonna find out until go and take a look, brat."** The Kyuubi said.

' _You just like to annoy me, don't you?'_ The blond thought, much to the amusement of Kyuubi.

" **Can't escape the seal, so I might as well try and annoy you to death."** The Kyuubi said, earning a displeasing groan from his warden.

"Yeah well… you're welcome to try…" he muttered, before his eyes widened slightly as he sensed a familiar presence a few meters behind him. He stood up and turned towards the presence as he looked at the newcomer in the eyes.

"What are you doing here, Itachi?"

* * *

 **AN:** And cut! Wow, that was a long chapter! The longest one I've written, I believe. As you can see, I've changed my writing style a little bit over the last few months. The reason as to why is because I've re-read this fanfiction several times, and I started to see the mistakes I made. I rushed the story a lot, didn't give you details and whatnot. It frustrated me as both a reader and the writer of this story and that was why I got into a writer's block in the first place. I didn't know how I was going to change my style in writing and I didn't really know exactly what I wanted with it either. That was why I took a break to figure things out.

After a few months of contemplating on what I've written so far and passing my ideas back and forth with a friend of mine, I planned out a (somewhat) future for Namikaze. It might take a while for me to write the chapters but I will try and write at least one chapter per month, sometimes it might be two chapters a month. Who knows? :P

Anyway, I would like again to apologize for my lack of updating this fanfiction because I genuinely enjoy the concept and I don't want it to die because of me lacking the motivation to write. I simply refuse to let it die when I know I can do better.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and don't forget to tell me what you think about it in the review section! Until next time!


	9. Chapter 8

**AN:** Yo! Sorry for the wait... Don't really have any excuses other than the fact that I am really, really lazy. Oh well, here we go! Chapter 8 for Namikaze! This chapter is a little bit shorter than the last one but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless!

 **Namikaze**

 **Chapter 8**

* * *

Itachi was running fast. The ANBU that had been looking at the fight between Naruto and himself had started chasing him. He couldn't get caught, and he knew that. He couldn't get caught, as it would jeopardize the mission he had taken on. He had to get away.

" _This is bad… I might have given myself an even bigger reason for Konoha to chase me down now…"_ Itachi thought in dismay. _"Oh well, I'm almost at Kisame's position. Hopefully with his help I can at least disorient these AN-"_ His thoughts were interrupted as a strong gust of wind crashed into his side.

" _Shit!"_ the young nuke-nin thought as he flew through the air, crashing into the ground before doing a flip and landing on his feet. _"What the hell was that? How did I not sense that fuuton Ninjutsu?"_

He looked up and saw a young bearded man in a standard chuunin outfit and a red sash over the belt. His eyes widened slightly at the sight. _"What the hell is Sarutobi Asuma doing here? Isn't he supposed to guarding the Daimyo?"_

"Surrender or be terminated, Uchiha Itachi." the bearded man called out, eyes narrowed at the young Uchiha's own. Itachi resisted the urge to sigh as he quickly put a genjutsu onto Asuma before breaking eye contact, looking around the small clearing that he had landed in.

" _Four ANBU… Great."_ Itachi thought in dismay. _"If I don't run, I won't make it out of this alive."_ With that, his hands flew through a few hand seals before he took a deep breath.

" _ **Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"**_ He thought before exhaling a large fireball, aimed towards the young ANBU quickly jumped out in order to defend the unassuming member of The Twelve Guardians. Using this confusion, Itachi quickly disappeared, leaving a Kage-Bunshin behind as a second distraction.

* * *

The morning had been great for the young medical-nin Kitõ. The only ones who had the need to be treated for anything were mostly civilians who had the usual flu or a cold. He was walking towards the reception of the hospital, ready to start his second round for the day.

That is, until, a yellow flash suddenly illuminated the room and out of it came a young, wounded genin who fell flat onto the hospital floor. The boy was battered and bruised, his visible skin was scorched and his clothes were either torn apart or burned. He had just gotten into the waiting room to witness this. The boy groaned as he turned his body to put his back towards the floor, with a burned hand nursing the side of his stomach.

"Ouch, that hurt..." came a hurting groan from the young boy. Eyes wide, Kitõ rushed towards the boy and kneeled before him.

"Are you alright, Naruto-san?!" he frantically called out, only to receive another pained groan from the boy. "I NEED SOME HELP OVER HERE!" The Medic-nin yelled out as he ripped the boy's tattered shirt apart and went through the hand seals for Shõsen Jutsu as his hands was enveloped in green chakra. He put the hands on the boy's stomach and started analyzing the boy's body for both internal and external damage. He sighed in relief as he felt the boy's internal damage heal itself rapidly.

"Man, I really liked that shirt…" the boy managed to quip out in-between his deep breaths of pain. Kitõ barely held in a chuckle at the boy's nonchalant behavior.

"Hold on, Naruto-san. Your body is covered in second-degree burns and your internal organs have taken a beating." The medical nin said to the boy. The boy tried to laugh, only to wince in pain, but smiled nonetheless.

"Yeah well, stand too close to an exploding clone and this is what happens. I should know, I just did it." He said with a non-serious tone, trying to calm the medical nin down a little bit. His efforts weren't in vain as Kitõ chuckled a little before switching the Shõsen Jutsu to Healing Mode to speed up the rejuvenating process of the boy's internal organs.

' _This boy… even in extreme pain he still manages to make jokes…'_ the medical nin mused. At this point, a squad of medical nin had just gotten into the waiting room and assisted Kitõ with the healing of the boy's body.

They continued to heal the boy's damaged organs, and they quickly realized that Naruto's body had a healing factor that was almost unheard of. They were just about to ask Naruto if he needed something for the pain, but he got to that question first.

"Mind giving me something for the pain, sensei?" the boy asked. They nodded as they gave him a dose of pain-numbing narcotics. The boy's vision became blurry before his eyes closed.

" _I still had a kunai left..."_ He thought before he gave in to the painkillers.

* * *

Naruto looked around himself. All he saw was a bunch of pipes, water that went up to the end of his feet and a gate bigger than the Hokage Tower. He sighed, he knew exactly where he was.

"Great, I'm in my mindscape again…" he muttered, as he looked towards the gate. He saw a pair of red eyes the size of his body look at him, and soon the Kyuubi surfaced from the darkness inside of the cage. The fox growled at Naruto, but didn't even receive a wince in return.

" **You really screwed that one up, brat."** The fox growled **"Now I have to fix the mess that is your body and knowing you humans I won't even receive a thank you for it."** Naruto just sighed at that remark as he smacked his hand into his headband. Did the fox really think that little of him?

"Well, I am grateful that you're healing my body, furball." He said "But if you're gonna be this bitchy about it, then why should I thank you? By healing me, you're doing yourself a favor, ya know." The fox just growled at the unwavering boy. This boy had some huge balls to speak to him like this!

" **And what is that supposed to mean, you little brat?!"** he said in anger, eyes boring into his host. The boy chuckled as he met the Kyuubi's gaze, a cocky grin plastered onto the child's face.

"What I mean is, wouldn't you rather be locked into a strong seal than be out there? Where Madara is?" the boy questioned him. Kyuubi grumbled in response and saw the boy's grin widen.

" **I guess you have a point… But that still doesn't mean you're not a little brat!"** the Kyuubi retorted in a childish manner. Naruto just laughed. Even the Kyuubi could admit he was wrong at least once. Kyuubi growled in anger at the boy, clearly frustrated by the boy's word. This only fueled the boy's laughter as he fell down into the shallow water holding his sides laughing.

"Don't get your panties in a twist, _Kyuu-chan_ " the boy quipped out in-between his laughter, still rolling in the shallow water. The oversized fox let out a menacing growl towards the boy as he tried to push chakra out of the seal, but it was all in vain.

" **I hope you drown in this filthy sewer water, brat!"**

…

…

…

"BHAHAHAHAH!"

After a few moments, Naruto had calmed down from the banter and gotten back up onto his feet. Amazingly, he wasn't drenched in the sewer water. In fact, he was as dry as sand, which confused the almighty fox who had no clue as to how that was possible. He brushed that aside as he could only speculate that the boy was somehow able to control the mindscape.

" **You really can't take anything seriously, can you?"** the oversized nine-tailed fox sighed out in dismay.

"Well, you're the one that was annoying the living hell out of me earlier today." Naruto responded, earning a grunt of dismay from Kyuubi.

" **Yeah whatever…"** grunted the fox **"On a completely unrelated topic, that last jump you did was really sloppy. You let the flash out."** At the last part, Naruto's eyes widened.

"Shit! How many were there even in that room?" he asked the fox.

" **Only you and some old lady. Hopefully she was as blind as a bat."** Mused the fox **"Not that I care at this point though, you use Hiraishin almost all the time anyway. It's probably the worst kept secret you have."** Naruto sighed. What the fox said was true. It was his worst kept secret.

"True…" he started "I guess there's really no point in hiding the fact that I can use Hiraishin, is there?"

" **Do I really have to repeat myself, ningen?"** The fox grunted **"No, there is no point in hiding it. Hell, it will probably stir some fear in the enemies of Konoha."**

"I suppose you're right…Now, as much as I enjoy this banter of ours, I think I'll go ahead and throw myself out of this place and get some sleep."

" **Whatever…"**

* * *

 **Six Days Later**

* * *

He woke up with a groan at the sight of the ceiling. It was the ceiling of a hospital room. he looked out the window and saw that the sun was up, birds flying around in the air. He sighed as he turned his head towards the clock on the wall, and frowned. It was nine in the morning. _"For how long was I out?"_ he thought. He pulled up his right arm into his line of sight and saw bandages. He frowned, as he didn't feel any pain in his body. He was just really stiff from being in bed for two long.

" _Man, Itachi got me pretty good, huh?"_ Naruto mused _"Really didn't see that one coming. He's good I'll give him that. Even with Hiraishin: Ni no Dan he made short work of me..."_ He couldn't help but be amused by his attempt at the S-rank nuke-nin. He knew from the start that he would barely have a chance against the Uchiha, yet he needed to at least try it.

Suddenly, the door opened, catching his attention. In came a young nurse _'Probably around 17 years old… Wait, why am I trying to guess her age?'_ He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts and looked at her. She had a worrying look on her face as she cradled the medical chart with her arms as she looked back at him. she walked up to him and took a good look at his bandages.

"Hi there…" she heard the tired voice of Naruto "How long was I out?" she sighed. It was as to be expected from someone who had dropped in out of thin air. She took the chart and started reading it.

"Hello, Uzumaki-san." She began, "You have been unconscious for six days. According to the iryõ-nin treating your wounds and burns, it should be possible to take off those bandages. Can you please sit up for me?"

Naruto complied and sat up, using his arms to support himself. He frowned slightly. His body was weaker than usual. He looked towards the wall in front of him and saw a mirror. His frown deepened at the sight. He had bandages all over his body. _'God I hope it's not as bad as it looks…'_ he thought worryingly.

"May I take off some of the bandages on your arm?" the nurse asked. Naruto nodded silently as she started. As she started to carefully twirl the bandages off his arm, her eyes widened for every turn. She gripped his arm, causing him to wince slightly, and looked at it as if she wanted it to catch fire, again.

"Astonishing…" she muttered, confusing Naruto. Her head whipped upwards, looking Naruto right in the eyes. "How did your body heal this fast, Naruto-san? This is amazing!"

' _Ah, she's just amazed at my awesome healing factor'_ the boy mused.

" **Don't you mean the healing factor I gave you?"** the bored voice of Kyuubi quipped in his mind.

' _Right, right… sorry.'_ Thought Naruto as he tried to come up with an answer. It finally hit him, the Uzumaki were known in their time for having a great healing factor.

"Well what can I say? It's in the Uzumaki blood! That, and I'm just really awesome." He boasted as he did his best to hide the true reason behind his miraculously fast recovery. She giggled at his antics before releasing his arm.

"If your arm has healed to this point, I don't see a reason as to why we should keep those bandages on you." She stated "I do however believe that you should stay here for at least for a few more hours so that we can do some tests on you. To see if the internal organs have healed up as well, of course." He sighed in dismay. He didn't want to stay in this god-forsaken place much longer. He didn't mind the staff; he just didn't like being in the position of not being able to do anything but wait for his body to recover or something along those lines.

"Yeah I probably should…" the young blonde muttered. The nurse giggled at his misfortune, before standing up to leave the room. Before she did however, she turned back towards him.

"Should I send in the girl that wants to see you?" She asked. Naruto looked at her with a confused expression before his eyes widened.

" _Oh shit! she can't mean Anko, right?"_ He thought, before nodding silently at the nurse. She smiled before she went out of the room, leaving the door open. After a minute or so, Anko came into the room. It was evident that she had been crying, and still was for that matter, as her face had streams of tears flowing from her eyes. All Naruto could think off was to smile awkwardly and scratch the back of his head with his now released arm.

"H-Hi there, Anko-nee!" He exclaimed nervously before she dashed towards him and engulfed him in a hug, burying her face in his neck. His smile lessened, but it was still a happy one nonetheless, as he returned the hug.

"I-I was s-so scared you might've died, Naruto-kun!" she exclaimed in-between sobs as she tightened the hug, which he also did in return.

"I'm not going anywhere, Anko-nee." He said softly "I'm not gonna leave this world anytime soon. I've got too much to do beforehand."

"But that doesn't mean you can go ahead and just do something stupid like this!" She yelled into his neck. His eyes turned solemn and his mouth went into a thin line.

" _She's right. I have to be more careful…"_ He thought as he looked into the mirror that he was facing. His face turned into a frown once more as he looked at the back of the young girl that he allowed himself to call sister. _"I have to be careful… Not for me, but for her and the rest of my friends. Intentionally or not, my parents merged their memories with mine. I'm gonna have to be more cautious from now on. I cannot let this opportunity tou-chan and kaa-chan gave me be wasted."_

"Okay." He whispered to her "I'll try to be more careful, okay?"

Her eyes widened at this, not expecting the young boy to listen to her right off the bat. He chuckled, sensing the surprise that came from her body.

"You idiot…" she sobbed, earning her a smile from the young Uzumaki. He looked out the window and saw birds flying in the sky.

" _Yeah… I'm not gonna let this be for nothing."_ He thought as she continued to sob into his neck. _"Man, she really needed to cry, didn't she?"_ Before he could think much further, he sensed his surrogate grandfather outside of the room.

"Are ya gonna stand there and wait forever, Jiji?" Naruto quipped. Anko looked up and broke the hug with a confused look on her face. A chuckle could be heard as the old geezer walked into the room and looked at the two of them.

"H-Hokage-Sama!" the purple-haired girl exclaimed as she stood up from the bed. The Hokage chuckled once more.

"Hello Anko-san. Naruto-kun, I'm glad to see that you are doing well, and that your sensory abilities haven't degraded." He said "But, I do believe you have some explaining to do as to what happened six days ago." Naruto's facial expression turned serious as he looked right into the old man's eyes.

"Not here, who knows how many eyes and ears these walls have." Naruto responded with a serious tone. "I will start on the report as soon as I'm out of this bed." The Hokage nodded, understanding what the young boy said.

"So, how are you feeling?" He asked the boy, who looked at him with a deadpan expression on his face.

"As good as you can feel after an explosion to your face. Uzumaki healing factor or not." He pouted, earning a chuckle from the Hokage.

"Yes, it really is fortunate that you have the vitality of an Uzumaki." The Hokage stated "But please, take caution in the future. Next time you might not be so lucky." Naruto's childish pout disappeared and his gaze softened.

"I know…" he whispered.

* * *

Naruto was sitting on the sofa in his apartment, being discharged from the hospital after two hours. Anko had gone to bed as she was exhausted from worrying about the boy who had taken her in. He was not alone, however, as the Hokage was sitting in front of him, staring at the young blonde with a stern look on his face.

" _I'm really getting too old for this shit…"_ Thought the old man as he waited for Naruto to start with the debriefing. Naruto's body shifted as he straightened himself from his relaxed position on the sofa.

"Okay... So, this is what happened..."

* * *

 ***Flashback to the Confrontation***

* * *

"What are you doing here, Itachi?" asked the younger one of the two. His eyes were cold and calculating, and they broke off from the now named Itachi's eyes as it seemingly searched the surroundings.

"I am only here to speak with you, Naruto-kun." Said the older one with a neutral tone as he saw Naruto's look between the trees a few meters next to him.

' _I sense four people in the trees and I recognize none of them.'_ Thought the blonde, as he once again locked his eyes with Itachi… only for his own to widen as he saw the lips of the man in front of him to move as the iris' of his eyes turned red and the pupil grew bigger, morphing into three spiraling curves. Then a tear of blood came out of the left eye.

"Tsukuyomi" muttered the Uchiha, as the colors of the world around them were inverted. Itachi then sighed in relief, releasing the stoic and neutral side of himself and looked at the blonde with a satisfied smile, confusing the blonde.

"What is this?" asked the confused blonde, earning a chuckle from Itachi. This only confused the young boy more as he still couldn't figure out why Itachi was doing this.

"I have temporarily stopped time, so that we can talk to each other without the onlookers hearing us." He answered.

"Ahh, should've figured that one out on my own." The blonde muttered with eyes slightly widened. _'But what about the blood I saw coming out of his eye? Does this genjutsu harm him?'_

"I have come to you to ask for your help, Naruto-kun." The young Uchiha said. At this, Naruto's eyebrows quirked up. Seeing this, Itachi continued "I want you to keep an eye on my little brother. I also want you to keep him away from the Foundation. By any means necessary."

"The foundation… you mean Danzo and his ANBU?" asked the blonde. Itachi looked at Naruto for a few minutes, processing what the young blonde just said. _'He knows about root?"_

"Yes." Was the answer given to the blonde. He nodded, before frowning as he looked at Itachi, processing the information.

"You're giving me, an eight year-old genin a mission that could easily be considered an S-ranked one?" This wasn't of a question directed towards Itachi, rather he was repeating it to himself. Itachi didn't answer verbally, instead he nodded his head in confirmation. The blonde kept the frown as he continued "You do realize that we are all ordered to either bring you in or kill you on sight, right? We're gonna have to make it look like we had a fight seeing as how there are four shinobi on standby in the trees."

"I am aware of that, Naruto-kun." Itachi started "But you still haven't answered my question. Will you help me in keeping my little brother away from Danzo and his organization?" He didn't get an answer right away from the boy, who looked at him with a calm and collective look, processing the question. There was a silence looming around them for a moment, before Naruto locked his eyes with the Uchiha once more.

"Yes… I will." Was the hesitant but clear answer from Naruto as his eyes was locked with Itachi's. _'Good, I sense no lies in his words, nor do I see any deceit in his eyes.'_ The dark-haired teenager closed his eyes as a normal tear came from his right eye. He then opened them and looked at Naruto with a mix of both happiness and sadness.

"Thank you, Naruto-kun. As for you being questioned by the Hokage in the future, you can say that the organization I am in wants what is inside of you." Naruto's eyes widened at this. _"Inside of me… He means the Kyuubi, doesn't he?"_

"You know about the Kyuubi, don't you?" He asked.

Itachi responded with a nod before saying "Yes, the organization I am a part of is after your tenant. I was sent here to test your abilities, to see if you might become a threat in the future."

"A threat?" he tilted his head slightly in childish confusion. "If they sent you to test me, then that means that they're not underestimating me, and that they're already warry of me." Itachi's eyes widened, surprised at the boy's level of understanding.

" _Amazing, he quickly deducted everything by himself and came to a conclusion in a mere instant. This boy, if given enough time, will with no doubt be strong enough to defend yourself from the others."_ The young Uchiha thought.

"Yes. Your previous exploits have caused some dissonance inside of the Akatsuki. Some of them believe that the best course of action is to take you right now while you're still young, but others do not." The Uchiha said before he looked at Naruto with a smile. "It's unfortunate that it has to come to this point, because from here on out we are enemies. Maybe in a different world, we could've been friends." With that, his eyes went back to the normal Sharingan and the genjutsu faded.

" _We are friends, Itachi…"_

As soon as they came back to reality, Naruto shot forward in a burst of speed, kunai poised towards his newfound enemy with the intention to kill. He knew that the only way to make it look real was to make an attempt on Itachi's life.

Itachi immediately whipped out a tanto and barely managed to parry the attack aimed at his body, causing it to fly from Naruto's hands _"Shit, four to go..."_ Naruto thought. Eyes widened, he saw the short boy whip out a second kunai from his pouch and went for another strike.

He quickly jumped backwards to distance himself from Naruto. _'I never imagined that Naruto would be this fast!'_ he thought as the boy launched the kunai from his hand, only to be whipped away by the tanto. He then took out two kunai from the pouch, each in his hand.

" _I only have three kunai left at my disposal, unless I want to jump to the used once."_ Naruto thought as he twirled the kunai in his left hand, putting it in a reverse grip before throwing it at Itachi who barely had time to dodge it, hands in the air as he once again jumped backwards. Eyes widened, he saw the blonde vanish, only to feel a sharp pain in his neck.

He looked behind him and saw Naruto mid-air. The boy had caught the flying kunai and had just released the other kunai that now was embedded inside of him. He chuckled as Naruto's eyes widened, sensing the chakra build-up from Itachi. _'I hope you're fast enough to dodge this, Naruto-kun.'_

' _Shit!'_ thought Naruto as he saw Itachi's body bulk a little bit, before exploding.

* * *

 ***Flashback End***

* * *

"… I then used Hiraishin to get to the hospital before I could succumb to the explosion. The rest you already know, Jiji." The boy finished. Said old man looked at the young boy in front of him in a mix of shock and surprise.

" _He knew about Itachi the whole time?"_ He wondered as the emotions on his face were drained, and in turn an ice-cold gaze looked into Naruto's own.

"You do realize what this means, correct?" He asked the young blonde, who slowly nodded.

"Yes, what I just told you is an S-ranked secret. No-one besides the two of us can know about this." Said the Jinchuuriki. The Hokage's gaze softened.

"It was you who stopped Itachi that day, wasn't it?" he asked.

"Yes," Naruto began "I was the one who stopped him from making the worst mistake of his life." His hardened eyes gazed into Hiruzen's softer ones.

" _Those aren't the eyes of a child..."_ The Hokage thought _"Those are the eyes of someone who have seen war... Naruto, what is going on with you? What happened that made you this way?"_ The old man sighed as he took off the hat and brushed his hair with his hand.

" _I don't want to question him as to how he knows this much, but as it is right now, he is an enigma and I don't know how to deal with it."_ He thought in dismay. _"For so long, he has kept so many things from me... What really happened that day when Hanako died or the day when Hinata was almost abducted by Kumogakure... So many things and I, the leader of Konoha, am in the dark."_

"Naruto…" he began with a soft tone "You don't have to answer this, but what happened to you? What made you this way?" Naruto sighed as his cold gaze was turned soft as he mimicked the gesture the old man had done a couple of seconds ago, brushing his hair with his hand as he looked up to the ceiling.

"I can't tell you that... I'm not ready for that anytime soon..." he said "I do want to tell you, but I can't. It has to do with my parents, that is all I can tell you. Trust me when I say that you're better off not knowing, as it has the potential to start a war, if it got out to the public. I have told Kakashi-nii the truth, but I'm not going to burden you with this knowledge because of your position in this village. I will however say that I do trust you and I will give my life for you, but again, I cannot tell you."

Hiruzen sighed once more. If it was this serious, then it was best if the boy kept it to himself. He then smiled, realizing how mature the boy had become over the years.

" _He may have his childish moments but when he needs to, he can without a doubt be one of the most mature people I have ever known..."_ The Hokage mused. _"His serious side is so much like you, Minato, and his non-serious side is so much like you Kushina it brings good memories back... I'll trust you, Naruto. If what you say is true, then I understand that you cannot give me this information"_

"I understand, Naruto-kun." He said, before he chuckled. "Heh, you never have a dull moment, do you, Naruto-kun?" The boy's mouth cracked a shit-eating grin.

"Nah, can't stop, won't stop!" he exclaimed as he crashed his back into the sofa's backrest with his arm flailing in the air dramatically.

"The burden your parents put on you must be heavy, Naruto-kun." The Hokage said "I hope you will be able to shoulder it. I did what I could, but there are people who are beginning to question your growth in power and how it came to be. You could say that some may even start to fear you."

"Yeah, I know." Said the young boy "But being in this position, I can't afford to be weak. I have a whole organization filled with powerful shinobi and kunoichi alike. They also know what I have inside of me and because of that, I need to be at my strongest when they come for me. I cannot afford to lose to them because at this point, if I do, I lose too much. I won't let it happen."

Hiruzen looked at Naruto with pride. _"Such conviction... If he doesn't fall into the same darkness as Itachi and Orochimaru, your son may be your successor, Minato-kun."_ He thought as he continued to look at the boy.

"I'm not the only one that has too much to lose." The blonde continued "Anko-nee has just as much to lose as I do. I will not let that happen to her. I cannot let that happen to her. This time, I got lucky. Next time, I may not come out of a confrontation like that alive." Hiruzen looked at the boy in amazement and wonder. He had never seen or heard a boy this young have such conviction and resolve.

"You are truly one of a kind, Naruto-kun..." The Hokage started "I am amazed that you even swallowed your pride and admitted that you survived by chance alone. I can count the amount of people I know that would do that with one hand." Naruto snorted in amusement.

"Pride is the downfall of men." He said "I cannot let it be my downfall... By the way, how did Anko-nee take my... absence?" The old man smiled a little.

"I took it upon myself to place Kakashi here while you were in the hospital." He stated "I don't believe that she wanted to be alone, so I put him here as a form of... vacation. She was temporarily relieved from duty as well to get herself accustomed to the new living arrangements." Naruto sighed in relief. Someone he trusted had been looking out for the fragile girl he calls sister.

"Thank you, Jiji..." The boy said, before smiling "I don't know what I would do without you." The old man chuckled as he looked at the young boy.

" _Always thinking about others, Naruto-kun."_ He thought, before refraining from frowning _"It may become a problem in the future though. The self-sacrificing personality often leads to the downfall of good men. I hope that Naruto-kun knows that."_

"Naruto-kun," The old man started before he rose up from his seat "I truly hope that you can overcome the darkness that is resting in the shadows, and that you can shoulder this burden that was brought upon you. I must go now as I have important matters to attend to." Naruto nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, I need to get some sleep anyway..." The young boy said as he also rose up. Both of them made their way to the door before Naruto opened it and let the Hokage out of his apartment. Once the Hokage was outside, he closed the door and sighed in relief.

" _Man, if someone else led this village I would've been thrown in jail for disrupting an ANBU-mission..."_ The boy thought, amazed at his own luck. He walked towards his room before glancing at the open door of Anko's. He looked in and saw Anko in her bed, sleeping peacefully. He sighed, thinking about what might happen to her if he hadn't survived the confrontation with Itachi.

" _I need to train once I've fully recovered..."_ He thought, as he continued towards his room. He went inside of it and laid down on the bed, thinking about the future. _"I truly hope I can calm the coming storm... Because if I don't, I don't know if anyone can..."_ He then gave in to the temptations of slumber.

* * *

 **AN:** And that's a wrap, ladies and gentlemen! Hope you enjoyed! this chapter went through many versions before I decided to go with this one. I hope really hope that you enjoyed it!


	10. Chapter 9

**AN:** Yo, back at ya with another chapter. "Holy fuck two chapters in a month what the hell?" Yeah yeah I know, this is me making up for lost time as I didn't really upload in March. Besides, I got my mojo back after finishing chapter 8 so I hope you enjoy this one. It's slightly shorter as well, as most of this was something that I came up with a few hours after I had uploaded and published the last chapter.

I also deleted the Author's Note chapter, as it does not matter anymore ^^,

Now, this chapter contains a lot of angst. Warned ya! o/ (I'm really bad at angst, that's why im warning ya)

 **AN2:** Fixed some mistakes that I missed when I spellchecked etc.

Enjoy the read!

* * *

 **Namikaze**

 **Chapter 9**

The Hokage sat in his office with a solemn look on his face. The information that was given to him by Naruto disturbed him greatly. He didn't want to think about the secret that Naruto kept from him, as knowing it could put not just Naruto, but potentially the whole village in danger. If what Naruto said was true, that is.

He really didn't know what to make of it. He now knew that Naruto was the one who had disrupted Itachi's mission, and he really wanted to thank Naruto for doing so. Itachi was a gentle soul that lived in a world of deceit, lies and murders. The boy would have been a perfect candidate for the Hokage position, had it not been for Danzo's meddling in the affair with the Uchiha Clan.

" _Someday, Danzo will be the death of me."_ He thought with a sigh. He looked at the clock. It was 5pm and it had been an hour since he had been at Naruto's apartment and been debriefed on what happened. He sighed once more as he gave out an order to the ANBU in the room.

"Everyone but Inu, leave." He ordered. they complied, vanishing from sight. "Please rise, Inu-san." Complying, the young operative rose from his crouch. The old man's gaze wandered over the young boy. It had been a while since he had gotten a good look at the promising student of his late successor.

"Kakashi, please take off your mask." He said. Kakashi did as ordered and took it off, revealing the mask-covered face of Kakashi. "Kakashi, I have important matters to discuss with you." Kakashi looked at the old man in curiosity. What did he mean by that?

"I'm sorry sir, I'm not sure I follow." He told his leader, confusion evident.

"What I mean is, I have important matters to discuss with you regarding Naruto-kun." He said, earning a nod from the young operative.

"I see, what is it that you want us to discuss?" he asked, eyes threatening to narrow as he was afraid that the old man had found out about the secrets that Naruto had kept from the leader. One of those secrets could very easily be a catalyst for The Fourth Shinobi War.

"Hypothetically, if someone withheld information from me to protect the village, and you knew of such information, would you also withhold such info?" The Hokage asked the young man in front of him. Kakashi's eyes narrowed, his suspicion coming true.

"Well, if I did get a hold of such information, and you knew about it, would you order me to give it to you?" Kakashi asked, only to be surprised when the Hokage shakes his head with a smile.

"No, it would be best that you kept it to yourself, Kakashi-kun." Said the Hokage "Now, when is your shift ending?"

"In a couple of minutes, sir." Kakashi answered, receiving a nod in agreement from the Hokage.

"Yes... You may go for today, Kakashi-kun." Said the old man. Kakashi saluted him and put on his mask before disappearing in a Shunshin. Once he was out, the Hokage sighed.

" _I'm seriously getting too old for this shit..."_ He thought as he stood up to look out towards the large and prosperous village that is Konohagakure no Sato. _"I just hope that someone will be ready to pick up the mantle if I die in the coming years..."_

* * *

Kakashi appeared in the locker room where the ANBU-operatives changed their clothes to a somewhat normal attire. Unlike many though, Kakashi opted to wear a variation of the ANBU-outfit while he wasn't on duty. The only thing he left out of it was the mask, which he replaced with the hitai-ate.

He sighed as he looked around. No one was in the locker room, mostly because of the fact that it was in the middle of a shift. Ever since Itachi had "betrayed" the village, the other operatives had been taking his shifts to compensate while they searched for a worthy candidate. Those that were considered potential recruits couldn't and wouldn't be able to hold up to Kakashi's standard, and was because of that discarded.

However, Kakashi had one individual in mind as a potential recruit. The problem was that the person he had in mind was, after the whole ordeal with Itachi, considered to be too young. He also didn't want to put this person into the fray as it could potentially damage the poor soul's already fragmented mind. He sighed at the thought.

Nonetheless, he decided that it was as good time to take a shower, and so he did. A few minutes after, he came out of it and put on a clean ANBU-uniform, hitai-ate and face-mask and headed out into the village. While he was walking, he read his "literature" that he loved so much, and a blush appeared on his masked face, but it could somehow still be seen.

His reading/walking session was rudely interrupted though as a green blur appeared beside him and put an arm around the shoulder of Kakashi.

"Heeellooo my youthful friend!" exclaimed the green blur as Kakashi closed the book with a snap and looked bewildered at his acquaintance, almost in comical shock.

"Gai, what have I told you about doing that?" He asked the Green Beast of Konoha that was hanging his arm around the scarecrow.

"Kakashi, my youthful rival, why have you been so distant lately?" Gai asked in concern. Kakashi sighed as he stopped, prompting Gai to stop as well.

"I haven't been distant, Gai." Kakashi responded "I have been very busy the last couple of days." Gai nodded in feign understanding, not really a hundred percent positive that he understood what Kakashi meant by that.

"What do you mean, you have been busy the last couple of days?" Gai asked "You've been working every day for the last five months!" Kakashi just put his hand over his face as he sighed.

"Yeah, because I've been really busy." The scarecrow said "I can't go into detail because it is classified." Now, Gai understood what Kakashi was talking about. It was related to the ANBU.

"I see, my eternal rival!" he exclaimed as he flailed his arms dramatically in the air, releasing his grip from Kakashi.

" _Should I disappear before he realizes it?"_ Kakashi wondered _"Nah, he'd catch up to me in a matter of few seconds."_ He decided against it and decided to hear the green beast out.

"My eternal rival," Gai started "Our friends and I have been worried about you. What do you say about a drink with us, so that we can catch up on what's been going on in the past months?" Kakashi pondered at the idea.

" _Hmm, I could use a few drinks after babysitting Anko the past few days."_ he thought, before he nodded in agreement towards Gai. "Sure, let's go out and drink." He said.

"Yosh!" the green beast exclaimed as he threw his hands up in the air "Let us go, eternal rival!" and as he had said that, he started walking towards the bar that their friends already were at. Kakashi chuckled at the man's antics as he followed him.

* * *

 **Later that night**

She woke up in panic, sweating profusely as her upper body shot up from the bed. She had been reliving the nightmare that Orochimaru had brought upon her that was the cursed seal on her shoulder. Every time she had this nightmare, it would bring extreme pain onto her and she didn't know what to do. She hadn't showed it to her roommate because she was afraid he would react the same as all of the others in the village. This itself brought nightmares upon her slumber as she had so much fear inside of her.

Speaking of her roommate, it had been a week since she had moved in to Naruto's apartment. She had over the week grown fond of him, not knowing why. She really liked him as a friend. He had called her his sister, which warmed her heart to no end.

This, again, brought the topic of fear upon her mind, not knowing what would happen if he found out about the mark on her shoulder. She didn't want to be abandoned again by what she wanted to call family, because the last time she called someone her family, it was to her mentor Orochimaru.

With a slight groan she got up from the apparent sweat-soaked bed as she made her way to the living room. When she did, she looked out the window and saw no light. She sighed, as she had again been awaken from her slumber by the reliving of the night that she abhorred.

She made her way to the kitchen area to clean her face with water. She filled the sink with water and splashed it over her face, not knowing that Naruto had also been woken up by her night terrors.

He had been sleeping for a few hours before he heard the young girl's frantic slumber as she had flailed her arms. He sighed as he got up, still a little bit groggy from not getting the sleep he needed. He got out of his room and saw Anko splash her face with cold water. He sighed once more, as he walked towards her. As he saw her tense up from the sound that he made while he was walking, he decided to tell her that it was just him.

"Don't worry, it's just me-tebayo." He said before he heard a sigh of relief from Anko. He frowned slightly, she was so on edge that it was driving her to the brink of insanity. _"If this is a normal night for her, it's gonna have to stop."_ He thought as he walked up to the counter and leaned his back against it with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Anko-nee, are you okay?" he asked, as he looked at her. She was still soaked and he could see that she was clearly tired. He could also see negative emotion in her face. This emotion was something that he had seen before in his father's memories: fear.

He sighed as he put his left hand gently on her shoulder, causing her to look at him. He then looked into her eyes with a warm and friendly look that instantly made her own tear up. Panicking, he quickly embraced her before she sunk down to the floor together with Naruto, crying her eyes out with her arms around his neck and her face buried into his shoulders.

" _Geez, and I thought she cried a lot at the hospital earlier..."_ he thought _"Maybe she really needs this. But what is she so afraid of?"_ he gently stroked her hair with his hand, trying to soothe her from the agony that she was in. He decided to let her cool down as she buried her face in his shoulder, her body convulsing every time she gasped for air from her wailing.

It took a few minutes, but after a while she had calmed down. She was still in his embrace and to him it was slightly awkward, as he may have the body of a child, but his mind was anything but. He decided that it was time for him to get his answers as to why she behaved in this manner, so that he could understand and calm the storm.

"Anko-nee, do you mind telling me as to why you're crying? I don't want to see you like this, it hurts my soul." He whispered. Eyes widened, she broke the hug and looked at him in slight shock. She wanted to tell him, but at the same time she didn't. the fear inside of her was slowly creeping up and she was torn between the two options that he had laid down in front of her.

" _Should I tell him? I can't keep this to myself forever... he'll find out sooner or later and I'd rather have him hear it from me..."_ she thought as she sighed before looking him in the eyes. _"It's now or never, I guess."_

"I-I had a nightmare..." she started "For the past few years, I've been reliving the last moment I was near my former master." He nodded, before instinctively looking at her left shoulder as he sensed a powerful dark chakra residing there. She then continued.

"I had only been a certified ninja for a few weeks when sensei told me that we were going to go on an extended trip through the elemental nations. I didn't know that he had been caught doing experiments and was forced to flee. He had doubled back to grab me in the middle of the night to more or less abduct me."

"We traveled the nations for several years, and I had no clue what he was up to. All I knew was that we were meeting strange people that knew him." She looked at him in hesitation, trying to see a reaction on his face. He was however deep in thoughts as he absorbed the story. "One day, we ended up in a village close to the sea. We took a boat to a nearby island and he told me that we were going to spend several days there." She said, still trying to see if he would react.

"That night, two years ago, he put his curse mark on me..." she ended her story as she put her right on her left shoulder, tears threatening to fall once more. Naruto's eyes softened as he now understood the pain she was in. He had heard about Jinchuuriki becoming the pariah of their villages, and it was apparent that the people of Konoha treated her as such. He put his hand on her other shoulder, to show comfort.

"I can't say that I understand your suffering..." he began "But, it doesn't mean I'm not gonna betray your trust. To me, you are Anko Mitarashi. I may have only known you for a week, but I can tell you right now that I now know why I am so drawn to you."

She looked at him in confusion as he let go of her shoulder before pulling up his shirt. He channeled some chakra into it so that the seal would appear. She looked at it, curiosity and shock apparent in her eyes as they widened.

"I am too weighed down with a mark." He said "Unlike you, however, mine was kept a secret because the Hokage refused to let it out to the public." Her eyes shifted to his, confused at his choice of words.

"What I mean is that the Yondaime Hokage couldn't defeat the Kyuubi eight years ago." He elaborated. Her eyes widened as she slowly connected the dots. "Instead, he was forced to sacrifice his life for the village and sealed the Kyuubi inside of a child. That child was me." He then stopped channeling chakra and dropped his shirt as he looked into her eyes, trying to find a reaction. Instead, she voiced it.

"Why... Why are you telling me this?" she asked. He smiled at this question, and she saw it. This smile was a warm and soft smile, one that could most likely melt hearts. It was a genuine smile that he rarely gave, as he too wore a mask to hide his true emotions.

"Because, if you're gonna tell me something as big as what you did, I might as well counter it with my own." He joked, before his voice turned more slightly serious. "Besides, I trust you. When I said that I now understand why I'm so drawn to you, is that you are going through what I would've, had Jiji not kept my it a secret. It is because of this I can comfortably tell you my story, and as to why the Hokage of all people gives me so much attention."

She looked at him, amazed and surprised at the fact that he didn't show any hesitation in telling her this. She now knew why he wanted to help her. _"He doesn't care about who my sensei was at all... He just cares about who I am..."_ she thought, fear and sadness turned into hope and happiness.

"But..." he started "I hope you can keep this seal a secret. It is one of the most well-kept secrets that Konoha has and if it got out, it could lead to war and bloodshed." Her eyes widened once more in realization. It was true, if it got out that Konoha had someone with a bijuu inside of them, it could instigate The Fourth Shinobi War out of the fear that the host could become a powerful weapon in the future. She then frowned as she realized the implication of his position.

" _He'd be turned into a weapon."_ She thought sadly. Naruto saw her frown and refrained from sighing.

"Don't worry, Anko-nee." He said "I'm not gonna be used as the host of the Kyuubi." Her eyes widened. He always did this. Ever since she met him for the first time, he had always able to know what she was thinking, whether it was mindreading, or the fact that he was just really good at reading people and drawing to conclusions based on logic and facts. She smiled, and was about to say something before he continued.

"Besides, aren't we already weapons?" he asked, before elaborating "I mean, we're shinobi and kunoichi. We're literally assassins, weapons to be used by the system." He ended with a frown on his face, which she mimicked. It was true. They were already assassins. Both of them probably blood on their hands, and they weren't even adults. Her eyes then once more widened in realization.

"Y-you mean that you've already killed someone?" she asked, only to receive a sad nod from the younger boy. Her mind began racing. _"Oh my god, why would the Hokage send Naruto-kun to kill someone?"_ her thoughts were broken as he started talking.

"Yeah, I've killed before." The young boy confirmed "I have so much blood on my hands, it scares me. It scares me because I don't know what I will become in the future." He lowered his head in slight shame. He really didn't want to talk about the people he had killed. The ones in the camp that held a large amount of people as hostage/slaves, or the ones that killed Hanako.

The faces of the lives he, his father and his mother had taken flashed through his mind as he fell a tear at the memory. It didn't matter if they were bad people or not: he did NOT like ending someone's life, much less more than he could count.

" _He's so young, yet he has taken lives... How can he be so cheerful all the time?"_ She thought _"Oh my god, the reason he's able to see the true me is because he's wearing an emotional mask as well!"_ She slid herself to him as she put her arms around him, seeing that he was not better off than she had been a couple of minutes ago.

As she embraced him, tears flowed down his cheeks as he gave in to the bottled up emotions that he'd been building up and cried out in mental agony. She did what he had done for her and tried to soothe him with by stroking his spiky hair and hushing at him.

"There, there Naruto-kun..." she began "It's okay, just let it out." Her eyes became solemn as she understood his pain. _"He really needed this, didn't he?"_ Just like her, he wept for a good few minutes before calming down. He then broke the hug and snorted as he looked at her with a slight smile.

"We're one fucked-up family, aren't we?" he joked, earning a chuckle from her before also earning a slight bonk to the head. "Ouch, what was that for?" he asked as he cradled his head in pain. She smiled and looked at him.

"Language, young man!" she said childishly, causing him to snort once more.

"Meh, if there's foul language, why not use it?" he asked humorously, smiling at her. She then hugged him tightly once more as her smile turned authentic.

"Don't ever change, Naruto-kun." She said, startling said boy. He didn't expect something like that. He really didn't.

"I won't" He whispered back before they broke the hug. "Now, let's go to bed. It's still in the middle of the night and I'd like to get some sleep." She nodded, before frowning slightly.

"C-can I share bed with you tonight, Naruto-kun?" She asked. He turned at her in slight shock, not expecting that either. "I don't want to be alone tonight." He stood still for a few moments, thinking.

"Ehh, sure why not?" he finally said hesitantly. _"I guess we both needed that moment..."_ they then went to his room, having the larger bed for one and her bed being soaking wet and all, and laid down on said bed. They laid there for a few minutes pondering about the events that had transpired that day and night before silently succumbing once more to the temptation that is the slumber.

The sleep was short-lived, however, as they heard a loud bang on the door. Both of them shot up into sitting position in surprise, waiting for the sound to repeat itself. The door banged once more and Naruto decided to go and check who it was. He quickly put his clothes on before opening the door and immediately face palmed at the sight in front of him.

In front of him was Kakashi. Not a Kakashi he recognized though, as this one could barely stand on his own two feet without falling face-first into the ground. _"What the fuck? How much alcohol did he drink tonight?"_ he thought, his face still buried in his hand as he frowned slightly in disgust at the smell of Kakashi's breath.

"Kakashi-nii, are you drunk?" he asked as he let go of his own face. The scarecrow eyesmiled lazily as he put his hand on Naruto's head and started ruffling his hair.

"Maybe." He responded "Can I come in? I kinda... lost my keys." Naruto grunted at the idiocy of adults before opening the door fully so that Kakashi could go inside. Kakashi did so, almost falling five times in five steps.

" _How the hell is he still conscious?"_ the young boy thought in slight amazement as he observed his older brother trying to walk without any help to one of the sofas. He failed horribly, as he fell face first into the wooden floor. Kakashi grunted as he struggled to get up

"Alright... let me help you, you big baby." Naruto said as he took hold of Kakashi's arm and helped him up. He then led the scarecrow to the sofa that he had been trying to get to and gently helped him sit down without tipping forward. When Kakashi was finally sitting on the sofa, he casually tipped his head sideways before his whole body followed suit, crashing into the seats. He was asleep before his head even hit the pillows that Naruto swiftly put there to avoid any damages to... well, anything, really.

He sighed as he put one of the nearby blankets over Kakashi's body and gave out a slight chuckle. Anko had seen the whole scene and even though he couldn't really feel emotions with his sensory, he knew for a fact that she was highly amused. He turned towards Anko who was standing at the start of the hallway, smile plastered onto her face as she giggled. Naruto chuckled as well at Kakashi's drunken antics before walking towards Anko.

"C'mon, let's go to bed." He said, as Anko nodded. Just like Kakashi, they both fell asleep before their heads hit the pillows

* * *

 **AN:** Yeah… if you ask me, it's almost cringe worthy. This is the closest to angst I can get to, as I am really bad at the emotional part of shit... Oh well, at least I tried, right?

Feel free to leave a little review and tell me what you think and I'll see ya next chapter! o/


	11. Chapter 10

**AN:** Yooo! so here's the next chapter! enjoy! :D Not as fast as the last time, but hey, I'm getting there!

 **Namikaze**

 **Chapter 10**

It had been two weeks since Naruto woke up from his... _explosive_ fight with Itachi. He had since then fully recovered and had even found some time to train, honing the techniques he already had under his belt. Anko had since then fully opened up to Naruto and become much more cheerful and genuinely happy.

They had also spent time with each other as Naruto was allowed to start doing D-ranked missions last week. That is, if he could find someone to supervise him so that he wouldn't overdo himself as he was technically still being in a state of recovery, and a genin at that. Anko volunteered, eager to help her newly found surrogate brother. Seeing as she's a Chuunin that wasn't a problem at all and the Hokage thought it was a good idea for her to relax while still on the job.

A week after their emotional breakdown, they decided that it would be good idea to sleep in the same room. Not the same bed, but the same room. They had moved Anko's belongings into Naruto's room and remade her "old" room into a small library and study, complete with two desks in the middle that each had a chair and a sofa residing with its back to the desks, facing the door.

Currently, Naruto was sleeping in his bed while Anko was reading one of the many fuinjutsu books that Naruto had in his "small" library of ninja art theory and literature. When she had first gazed upon the library, she was astonished at many books he had, and when she found out that he had even wrote some of the scrolls and books on one of the ninja-categories, namely fuinjutsu, she was amazed at the level of detail he had written the books in.

He had everything. Five scrolls and two books on kenjutsu, one copy of almost every fuinjutsu scroll and book in existence and what she estimated to be over 50 books solely focused on ninjutsu theory. She was just too lazy to actually count them as his study could count as library just by itself.

The book that she was currently reading, The Theory of Fuinjutsu for Beginners: Part 2, was a book written by Namikaze Minato. She wondered if Naruto had become this skillful in the art by just reading all of the books he had in there. Shaking her head to clear these thought from her mind, she continued to read the book...

*Knock Knock*

Only to be interrupted by someone at the door. Sighing, she put a piece of paper on the page she was on before closing it and standing up from the sitting position on the sofa she had been so comfortably sitting on while reading. She walked out of the library and to the door before she opened it. It was Kakashi in full ANBU-uniform complete with the mask, signaling that he was on duty.

"Hello, Inu-san." Said the purple-haired teenager politely "How may I help you?" Kakashi tried his best not to chuckle at the girl's attempt to be formal, and succeeded. It was not like her to be formal and polite, but she did her best and it was somewhat amusing.

"Hello, Anko-san." He replied "Is Naruto awake? I am here to tell him that he has a mission." Anko shook her head in response.

"No, I'm afraid he's asleep. I'll go and wake him up." She said before she walked towards and into Naruto's room.

"Otouto, wake up!" Said the teenager to the sleeping Naruto, waking him up. His groggy eyes scanned his surroundings and saw Anko standing next to his bed. "Inu-san is at the door. He told me to wake you up." Raising his upper body, he sleepily nodded his bed as he got out of his bed and gazed at the clock. It was 8am. Sighing, walked to the door and was greeted by Kakashi in complete ANBU uniform, mask and all. The ANBU operative gazed down at the boy.

"Mission-room, 45 minutes. Prepare for a C-ranked mission, possibly a month." Was all that he said. Naruto understood why. People were looking at the whole ordeal in curiosity and Kakashi couldn't break character in the middle of the street. He was an ANBU operative after all. Naruto nodded in confirmation before closing the door and rushed to the bathroom to take a shower.

While he was in the shower he contemplated on the words that Itachi had spoken to him during the confrontation. _"If I'm gonna protect his little brother from the Foundation, I'm gonna need to get a lot stronger..."_ He sighed _"But I don't know if I can at this point, as my body is the bottleneck of my strength. As it is right now, I'm gonna have to rely on my agility and speed as my physical strength is not enough to take on seasoned and older shinobi."_

He stood in the shower for a good fifteen minutes before he got out of it. He dried himself with a towel before he wrapped it around his lower body and walked out of the bathroom. When he was out of it, he walked into his room and put on his "ninja" gear which consisted of a black long sleeved shirt with an orange swirl on the back and a pair of dark grey long shorts, a black facemask that concealed the lower part of his face and his headband.

His hands were covered by black fingerless gloves with a metal plate that had the insignia of Konoha. Around both of his thighs he had kunai poaches and strapped to his belt he had a poach for smoke bombs. Unlike the last time, however, he had a black vest over his shirt that had additional poaches for scrolls and sealing equipment in case he needed to use fuinjutsu.

" _I gotta thank Jiji for allowing me to wear a chuunin-style vest for missions, even though I'm not a chuunin."_ He thought as he walked out of the room. When he did, Anko looked at him and raised an eyebrow at the sight before she giggled.

"You look like a blonde Chibi-Kakashi." She pointed out. Naruto pouted a little with his mouth, which was unnoticed because of the mask, before he adopted Kakashi's famous eyesmile.

"Yes, well, I like to be mysterious just like Kakashi-Nii." He responded, earning a short laugh from the purple-haired girl. Then, as she finally recognized him in that outfit, her eyes widened.

"Wait, you're Shunshin no Naruto?" she asked, slightly shocked as she finally realized who she had been living with for the past three weeks (two if you discount the days Naruto had been in the hospital). Naruto's eyes went from an eyesmile to what she guessed was a deadpan look.

"My name is in the title." He said with a bored tone, much to her dismay as she sighed. "Well, I'm gonna eat a little fast before I have to go to the mission room." She nodded in understanding. You needed fuel to do a mission.

"I'll join you, I haven't eaten breakfast yet and I have to get to the T&I facility in an hour." She replied, earning an eyesmile.

"So, you're finally going back to work, eh?" he asked to which she nodded.

"Yeah, my temporary leave has ended so I gotta start going to work." She said "It'll take some time to get used to, but at least it's an easy job. I don't really have to do much other than interrogate the few people that actually tries to do something stupid in this village."

Naruto walked to the kitchen area and took the necessary items out of the drawers, counters and the fridge. He pulled out two bowls, a pack of milk and the cereal. He put everything at the dinner table and joined the now sitting Anko.

"So, do you know what the mission is?" She asked her roommate, only to receive a headshake from him.

"No, don't have a clue." He started "Gotta be there in around 25 minutes though." she hummed in annoyance, slightly saddened at the fact that she couldn't get any info on his mission.

"Yeah but you're pretty fast though." She started, earning a raised eyebrow from the boy "I mean, the day you... ehh... exploded, yeah exploded, you literally disappeared so fast that I didn't even see you open the door when you left." His mouth adopted a smile as he pulled it down and took a bite of the cereal. After chewing it for a few moments he swallowed it.

"You now know why I'm called 'Naruto the Teleporter'." He finally answered, earning a pout from her.

"Yeah but how the hell are you THAT fast?" she said, earning a confusing, mischievous grin from the boy "I' have seen the Yondaime use his Hiraishin no Jutsu before he died and your speed was almost identical to his. The only difference was the fact that you didn't emit a yellow flash when you disappeared. That and then there's the fact that you're eight years old and you're already in the bingo-book."

" _Ah man this is going to be so fucking hilarious."_ He thought as he disappeared from his chair and in an instant, he was behind Anko, leaning next to her ear. She hadn't noticed the jutsu-shiki marked kunai that was hanging in the ceiling right above her. As her eyes widened, he whispered into her ear "What if I told you, Hiraishin is in my arsenal?"

Her head turned around in shock as she looked at him with an incredulous look. _"Is he serious? Does he actually know how to use one of Yondaime-Sama's most priced techniques?"_ she thought as he looked at the boy. "Are you serious?" she asked. He nodded before he put his hand up slightly and started channeling chakra into it. As he did, a sphere of condensed chakra appeared in his hand, causing her eyes to widen even more as she realized what it was.

"Yeah... it's not the only piece of ninjutsu he left me." He said as he dispelled the sphere of destruction from his hand, dissipating into the air in a harmless shockwave. _"Should I tell her? I might as well tell her I'm related to Minato. At this rate she'll figure it out sooner or later anyway."_ he thought before saying "After all, shouldn't a father leave something behind for his child, in case he dies?"

"Wait, what?" she asked, her mind slowly shutting down as it tried to reboot. He took this moment to casually walk back to his chair. Her head slowly turned back to him in pure shock as her jaw slacked, unable to form words.

He chuckled at her loss of words. It amused him quite a bit. He continued to eat like he had said nothing as he waited for her to react. It took a few minutes for her mind to reboot as it looked like she was about to faint, wasn't it for her normal breathing.

"So, you're the son of the Yondaime?" She finally asked after a few silent minutes, still processing the information. He nodded in response. "Well, that explains why he would pick you to be the host of the Nine-Tails." He raised his eyebrow, wanting to hear her elaboration.

"I mean, if there's anyone he would trust anyone to host the Kyuubi, wouldn't it be his own son?" She asked. Naruto smiled at the logic. It was the same that his father had used.

"Haha, that was the same logic he most likely used." He said before shrugging "Either that, or I was the closest child that he could find." She looked at him with a face that screamed confusion.

"I'm just kidding about the latter." He confirmed. She nodded before laughing slightly. It would've been too convenient.

"Yeah," Anko started "I don't think that Yondaime-Sama would do something as significant as sealing the Kyuubi into a child without thinking. He most likely did it because he had no other option." He nodded, knowing exactly what had happened that night.

"Hmm, yeah." The blonde boy hummed in agreement before finishing the last of his cereal and put the mask back on his face as he stood up. "Now, this is another little secret that I'm in the center of, you can keep it a secret, right?" She nodded in response as he continued "I'm gonna go to the mission room now. Can you clean this up when you're done?"

"Yeah sure." She responded.

"Thank you." He said before disappearing in a blur, leaving Anko by herself. She sighed as she finished her own bowl of cereal before taking both of their bowls and put them on the counter. She then put the cereal back in the shelf and the milk into the fridge. When she was done with that, she decided to do the dishes before walking to the bathroom to take a shower.

" _How the hell did I end up living with the son of the Yondaime?"_ She thought as she took her clothes of and turned on the shower head.

* * *

"So, when will our new teammate be here?" A complaining, somewhat masculine voice said. The boy that had declared his annoyance was a 4'7 tall eleven-years-old that had dark hair and brown eyes. He wore a plain black shirt, gray camouflage pants with a kunai poach strapped to the left leg and a slightly larger poach designed for other forms of equipment strapped to his other leg. Strapped to his back was a plain black wakizashi with a normal round guard, sheathed in an equally dark scabbard. He was currently leaning towards a wall next to the door for the Mission Room.

"Koto-kun, do you have to be so impatient?" scolded a more feminine voice. This voice came from a green-eyed twelve-year-old girl, standing at a height of 4'9. Her long platinum-blonde hair was tied up into a ponytail. Her outfit was a black blouse, shorts that went down to her thighs and they were met by pitch-black stockings, only revealing a thin string of skin. Covering the shorts, she had a dark purple skirt and under it, tied over her shorts, she had a kunai poach on each side with a larger poach tied to the belt's skirt on the back that she carried medical supplies with. She was sitting beside Koto in a lotus position.

"Well, we've been waiting here for almost thirty minutes." Koto complained as they both looked at their sensei that was standing on the other side of the hallway. "Kasumi-sensei, do you know when he or she is, or who it is for that matter?"

"No, I don't have a clue." Was the response they got from Kimoto Kasumi. This eighteen-year-old woman had short brown hair, baby-blue eyes, stood 5'3 tall and wore a standard jounin outfit with two black wakizashi strapped to the belt. These two swords each had a golden dragon sewn into each side of the hilt's purple Tsuka. She stood on the other side of the hallway, leaning against the wall.

"Why do we even need a third teammate, anyway?" complained Koto in dismay. Their former teammate, Hyuuga Junko, had died on their first C-rank mission. It had been so devastating all three of them, and it was the hardest thing that had ever happened to Kasumi.

"Because," Kasumi began, pain was evident on her face "even though we may not like it, a genin cell is composed of three genin and a jounin sensei." judging from her tone, she clearly didn't want another student or subordinate either, as to her it was like signing a death warrant for the poor kid. She had however no choice in the matter. Her train of thoughts were interrupted as the door to the Mission Room opened and the Hokage's secretary stuck her head out in the hallway.

"The Hokage is ready for the three of you now, Team Kasumi." She said, earning a nod from all three of them as they made their way into the Mission Room. When they got in, they got confused.

"Ehh, aren't we supposed to wait for our third teammate?" Voiced the sole boy on the team. The Hokage, sitting behind the table in front of them, smiled at the question as he nodded at them.

"Yes, I believe he should be here in a moment, Koto-kun." He responded to the boy, earning a sigh as the waiting-game continued. They sat down on the chairs that were put up against one of the walls and waited for their third unknown teammate to arrive.

After three minutes, a miniature tornado appeared in the room before it ended. In place of the tornado stood a masked blonde boy.

"Yo! Sorry I'm late, the queue to the bathroom was really long." The boy lazily joked, left hand in the air with the peace-signature flaring. Everyone in the room, except for the Hokage who merely sighed, thrusted their palms into their faces at the lame excuse that the boy had given them.

"Naruto-kun, you aren't late." The Hokage said before he smiled "I told Inu-san that you had forty-five minutes. It has only been forty-three."

"Oh." Was the response Naruto voiced "Damnit, I had that excuse so planned out." He sighed dramatically. _"A perfect Kakashi-influenced excuse gone to waste..."_

Now now, Naruto-kun, don't be like that." Said the old man "Now, the three people behind you are your new team, I'll give you a few minutes to introduce yourselves before the mission briefing starts." Naruto nodded before he turned around and took a good look at them.

" _Hmm, so this is my team, huh?"_ he thought _"Doesn't really look like any- wait, Kasumi-chan?"_ his eyes wandered onto her own. Her eyes diverted from his gaze almost immediately, not wanting to look him in the eyes. _"Why do I sense fear from her?"_ he thought as he walked over to them.

" _Sensei's son is right in front of me..."_ she thought. When Kasumi looked into Naruto's eyes, she instantly knew who he was. It was her sensei's son, and it was as clear as day. _"What if he knows I'm his mother's student. What will he say?"_ All she wanted to do was run away as far as possible, afraid of the eventual outcome.

"Ehh... Hi, I'm Uzumaki Naruto!" he voiced "It's nice to meet ya!" he then put his hand out towards Kasumi, who tried her best not to look him in the eyes as she shook it. _"Man, what's up with her?"_

"Hello, Naruto-San." The sole teen in the room responded "I am Kimoto Kasumi and I am the team leader of Team Kasumi." Their hands diverted from the gesture as Naruto nodded his head, before he sent an eyesmile towards the rest of the team.

"Yo!" he said, earning a sigh from the duo. He opened his eyes and gazed towards the Hokage with a look that clearly said _"Why am I even here?"_. The Hokage also sighed, knowing exactly what Naruto meant.

"Naruto-San will be the latest addition to your team, seeing as his master is on an extended mission outside of Konoha." Voiced the Hokage. Kasumi slowly nodded in response as she had no clue what to say. "He may be young, but he has earned himself his rank of genin. Treat him as your equal, Koto-san, Azumi-san."

"Yes, Hokage-Sama." voiced the genin-duo of the team. Naruto on the other hand hummed in delight, finally free from the metaphorical shackles the Hokage had put on him three weeks prior.

"Yosh!" he exclaimed, startling his new team briefly with his enthusiasm "We can take the introductions later on. Now, what is mission are we doing?" the Hokage chuckled at the boy's antics.

"Your mission is to guard the Daimyo of Yu no Kuni's son's wedding." The Hokage responded, receiving a nod from the four "They have been getting threats from the rebels in Yu no Kuni saying that if they don't cancel the wedding they will disrupt it. While they have been giving empty threats before, they have also carried out several of their threats as well."

"Okay, who will he be marrying?" Naruto asked in slight confusion.

"He will be marrying the daughter of our own Daimyo." Was the response he got. He nodded slowly.

"So, guard a wedding." Kasumi hummed "Are we to pick up the young lady?"

"No, she is already in Yu no Kuni." Said the Hokage. The four nodded before they bowed towards the Hokage.

"We shall be going then, Hokage-sama." Said the team leader, only for the Hokage to raise his hand.

"Naruto-san, can you wait here for a moment?" He asked "The rest of you can wait for him at the gate, he will be there in a moment." They all nodded in confirmation as the three original members of Team Kasumi walked out of the Mission Room, leaving the Hokage and Naruto alone. Naruto looked at the Hokage curiously, waiting to hear what he had to say.

"Naruto-kun," He started "This mission's classification may be increased significantly with you on it." This earned a raised eyebrow from Naruto as it only created more questions. "You are in the Bingo-Book. So is Kasumi." Naruto nodded in understanding.

"That means if the opposing force have the funds for it, they may hire nuke-nin or oinin to deal with the two of you." Hiruzen continued "Which means, that if it comes to it, you're gonna have to stop holding back during missions. Do you understand that?" Naruto closed his eyes momentarily before he looked back at The Hokage.

"Yes." He answered. "I know what I'll have to do if worse comes to worse." He answered, earning a smile from the old man before he continued "But, let's not hope that it will come to that. I've still got some less... _flashy_ techniques that won't draw as much attention. No pun intended."

"Good, you're free to go, Naruto-kun." The Hokage finished their discussion.

"Hai, Hokage-sama!" Naruto said before he vanished from the spot.

 _"Nope, not gonna get used to that..."_ The Hokage thought before he stood up and walked out of the Mission room, having no more missions to brief teams for a few hours.

* * *

 **Kumogakure**

* * *

It had been a long day for the Fourth Raikage. First the council raging at him for letting Konoha walk freely after killing their ambassador all those years ago when they could've just gone to war. At least that's what they thought. They truly didn't know how strong Konoha really was, with or without The Yellow Flash on their side. They truly believed that Konoha was nothing without the Kyuubi.

Currently, he was sitting at his desk, doing the abomination of a duty called paperwork. He sighed as he rubbed his temples. _"One day, those councilmembers will be the death of me."_ He thought as he heard a knock on the door.

"Come in." he half-shouted. Looking up from the stack of papers in front of him as the door opened he saw his young secretary Mabui with a something in her hands. It was a file. _"More paperwork..."_ A frowned.

"This just came in from one of our spies in Konoha, only seconds ago." She stated as she walked beside him and handed the file over to him. He took it and read it out loud.

"Here is the status report on Uzumaki Naruto you wanted, Raikage-sama." He started "I understand now why you would want to keep tabs on this boy after what happened to the infiltration team that you sent to capture him three years ago, because he is an enigma. A dangerous one at that. Here's what I've gathered on him so far:" He took a deep breath as his eyes squinted slightly.

"He has already made a name for himself outside of the village. On his first mission he was given the moniker 'Shunshin no Naruto', and is considered a B-rank threat by the Kusagakure Bingo Book. In the Bingo Book from Kusa it states that he is capable of using Shunshin no Jutsu at a high velocity during battle. Upon further investigation however, during his fight against the infamous Uchiha Itachi, half the times he disappears it's almost as if he vanished from the spot, rather than moving at a high velocity. With the resemblance of the late Yondaime Hokage, I will assume with great suspicion that it is the feared technique known as Hiraishin no Jutsu that he is using. If I'd have to rank him myself, I'd put him in at an A-rank."

The Raikage's eyes widened slightly along with Mabui's before he continued "He is very skilled in Fuinjutsu, as he has sealed his apartment away from prying eyes and ears. it is safe to assume that he is related to the Yondaime Hokage and that his potential is at this point limitless. As you are reading this report, he is on a mission in Yu no Kuni to guard the ceremony for the arranged marriage between the daughter of Hi no Kuni's Daimyo and the young Daimyo of Yu no Kuni. I suggest that if you're planning to go to war against Konoha, you're gonna have to take him out before he becomes a threat."

He took a deep as he finished reading the report, his hands were shaking with fear. _"If Konoha has already created someone that is capable of using Hiraishin no Jutsu,"_ The muscled man thought _"then there is little to no doubt that they're preparing for war. If they're preparing for war, then we will have to take action."_ He looked at Mabui with a stern look on his mustached face.

"Get me Samui, Darui and C!" He stated. "They have a mission to do." She nodded and ran out of the office.

" _I'm most likely gonna regret this action..."_ he thought as he looked at the report, pondering on what he should do with this information. He re-read it a few times, trying to actually comprehend what was written. Ten minutes after Mabui had left, the door was knocked on again.

"Come in." The Raikage stated, and in came Samui, Darui and C. He looked at them before he spoke "I have a mission for the three of you. It is considered S-ranked." He then took a deep breath "Just a few minutes ago, we received a status report from one of our spies in Konoha. He has discovered a potential threat. That threat is named Uzumaki Naruto, a genin." He looked at them to see if they would react. Samui did, eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Why is a genin a threat?" She asked. The others agreed with that question. It was unorthodox for the Raikage, or even any Kage, to even talk about a village's genin as if he or she was a threat.

"Valid question, Samui-san." The Raikage started "From what the report says, it is believed that this 'Uzumaki Naruto', or as he's called in Kusagakure, 'Shunshin no Naruto'-" Samui's eyes widened slightly, having read the Kusagakure Bingo Book only a day ago "- somehow knows the late Yondaime Hokage's Hiraishin no Jutsu." The bomb was dropped, and their eyes widened in shock as they recoiled back towards the wall behind them. They had all heard stories about the Yondaime Hokage and his feared Hiraishin no Jutsu. It was said that even the current Raikage had serious trouble fighting against the blonde army-destroyer, and if Konoha had a small boy capable of using Hiraishin no Jutsu, even to an extent, it could be devastating should a Kumogakure Shinobi be caught in his crosshair.

"The agent in question stated that Uzumaki Naruto should be treated as an A-rank threat and that said threat should be taken out as soon as possible. I agree with him, as the boy could pose a threat in the coming years." The Raikage finished the information on the boy. He then handed the files to Samui who took a good look at them, carefully reading the paper's content before passing it off to the rest of her team. When they had read it, they gave it back to him, not wanting the classified information on their person.

"What do you want us to do, Boss?" said Darui lazily. The look in A's eyes became hard and cold as steel.

"I want you to go to Yu no Kuni," The Raikage started "side yourself with the rebels. When you've done so, I want you to help them disrupt the marriage ceremony and assassinate Uzumaki Naruto and his team." Their eyes became cold before they nodded in understanding. Their mission detail was simple, carrying it out was another.

" _Even if he's just eight years old as they assumed in the Kusa Bingo-Book, he can't be underestimated."_ Thought the young blonde lady, before she voiced a question "Who will be the mission leader, Raikage-Sama?"

"You will be the mission leader, Samui-san." A responded "Be careful and good hunting." All three nodded before disappearing in a Shunshin.

" _If things go south, we might be causing a war..."_ he thought bitterly. He had to silence the blonde before the Council decided to push for war against as a single unit so that the boy wouldn't have time to grow. He sighed as he looked out the window.

" _I'm sorry, Minato-Dono. If I don't do it, someone else would've."_

* * *

 **AN:** Yooo! So, Kishimoto is a troll and I had to write three new characters (four, maybe) for this chapter to even work. I wanted to make it easy for myself and take existing characters that had little to no background but instead I had to write three biographies, balance three different characters in strength and so on and so forth.

Oh, and I decided to name the village that had made the bingo book. It was Kusagakure. More on that later though ;)


	12. Chapter 11

**AN:** Yooooo! So, here's a new chapter for you guys! I hope you enjoy it!

 **Namikaze**

 **Chapter 11**

 **Konohagakure**

Naruto appeared on top of the gate in a horizontal standing position, seemingly defying gravity with the help of the tree-walking exercise. He looked down at the post where he could see two chuunin sitting there. He recognized them from the time before when he had visited one of the training grounds, only of those two and the rest of their team, occupying the field. He dropped down to the ground, startling the two, before he raised his left hand once again and made a peace gesture towards the duo.

"Yo!" he exclaimed, earning a nervous chuckle from the one with spiky hair.

"Don't do that, Naruto-san." The other one responded only to earn an eyesmile from the blonde. He walked over to them and sat down on table.

"So, what are you two up to, Izumo-Senpai and Kotetsu-Senpai?" He asked the duo, and they just shrugged with their shoulders as they leaned back in the chairs they were sitting on.

"Not much, just enjoying this beautiful morning." Said Izumo as Naruto put his thumb up. "So, what are you doing here?"

"Nice!" Naruto said "I'm waiting for my new team to arrive. I finally get to go on a mission outside of the village again!" They chuckled at the child sitting in front of them. They were about to say something when Naruto gazed towards a trio of people walking towards them. He raised his hand up in the air and waved at them. He saw that now they all had, minus Kasumi, backpacks on them.

"Hello everyone! Took you long enough." He joked, earning confused looks from his teammates as they looked at the Hokage tower before looking back at Naruto.

"How did you get here so quickly?" Azumi asked. Naruto just winked at her in response, irritating all three of them.

"C'mon, let's go." He said, ignoring her question as he jumped off the table and started walking, only for Kasumi to stop him with a hand on his left shoulder.

"Where's your gear?" He looked at her with a deadpan expression before he pulled out a storage scroll from his vest.

"I use Sealing Scrolls." He said, earning a surprised blink from his captain's eyes.

"Oh, okay." She said "Team Kasumi, let's head out." With that, all three of them started walking out of the village's gate. She looked at Naruto before she opened her mouth "I hope you can keep up. I'd like to be in Yu no Kuni by tomorrow." Before the three original members of Team Kasumi jumped up to the trees and started jumping between them.

Naruto just snorted at the taunt before he followed them, appearing next to Azumi in a burst of speed as they traveled in what could be consider inhuman velocity. When he appeared beside her, she almost tripped. _"How the hell did he do that?"_ She thought before she shook her head to concentrate on the mission.

* * *

 **Seven Hours later (3pm), The Hokage's office**

* * *

The Hokage sat in his chair, contemplating on the decision of sending Naruto to accompany Team Kasumi on their second C-rank mission. He had been reluctant on sending Naruto with them on the mission, but Jiraiya had sent a letter telling him that Naruto wouldn't grow as neither a shinobi nor a man if he was cuddled and overprotected. He sighed as he stroked his beard. Jiraiya was right and he knew that, but he didn't want the legacy of the Yondaime Hokage to be taken away from the world so soon.

His thoughts were interrupted as the door to his office flew open and in came his secretary along with Umino Iruka. "Hokage-sama!" Iruka exclaimed "There has been a breach in today's mission portfolio! Team Kasumi's mission-file is gone!" The Hokage stood up, eyes widened. Someone had taken the file.

"Find out who took it!" he exclaimed as he looked towards his secretary, he then turned to Iruka "Get me Mitarashi Anko. She will be conducting the interrogation on the individual who took it!" They both nodded as they vanished in a Shunshin. He sighed, fearing the worst. He looked out the window towards the village. _"Please be okay, all four of you."_

* * *

 **five hours later (8pm), Ten miles from the border between Shimo no Kuni and Yu no Kuni**

* * *

Team Samui had traveled for the better part of the day and had almost reached the second border. It was getting dark, and they decided to setup camp and eat their meals before going to sleep.

"So, how powerful do you believe this Naruto is?" Samui asked the analytical mind of the group as they assembled the tents. Said person, C, looked up at her while he was putting the pins down into the ground.

"Well, it's safe to say that he'll be fast." He stated before he thought some more "We should however be able to complete the mission. I'll act at a support because I don't really know how much good I'll be in a fight where speed and powerful ninjutsu will be the key. I am after all an iryõ-nin and not a fighter." Samui nodded in agreement. C wasn't a fighter, he was a strategist and a doctor. You might as well murder him yourself if you're gonna put him up against a powerful individual such as Shunshin no Naruto, because it would be like sending him to his death.

"I agree with you, C." she stated "I believe that the best course of action is to have you behind us and help us with our wounds." She sighed in dismay. "I wonder if he'll be as much of a monster as Kiiroi Senkõ was back in the war." Darui just shrugged.

"Probably." He stated, earning odd looks from his teammates. "From what I can understand, Hiraishin no Jutsu isn't a speed-based technique, rather it is a Jikūkan ninjutsu. From the report that the spy gave us, we didn't even get any information on how well the boy is actually able to use it, or if he has any other powerful techniques under his sleeves." Samui nodded once more in agreement.

"Yeah, we can't be caught off-guard by Shunshin no Naruto, even if he is just a child." She stated. Her subordinates nodded in full agreement. "let's eat and then get some shut eye before we move towards the rebel camp tomorrow morning." They nodded once more in agreement before they took out their rations and silently ate.

* * *

 **Meanwhile at the outskirts of Yu no Kuni**

* * *

During the time they traveled, Team Kasumi was completely silent. They didn't say anything and it started to bother Naruto, being unnerved by the silence. _"Do these people really have nothing to talk about?"_ he pondered as they traveled. He looked up towards the sky and saw that the sun was setting. His thoughts were interrupted however, when Kasumi stopped on the branch she had landed on. The rest of the team followed suit.

"Let's setup camp here." She stated. The genin nodded as they jumped down from the trees and started working on the tents. Meanwhile, Naruto had created two Kage-Bunshin to collect twigs and alike to create a small bonfire and it returned just in time as they had finished with the tents. Kasumi noticed the Kage-Bunshin but had refrained from saying anything until it had returned with the twigs.

"Good job, Naruto-san" she praised the young boy "It's a good thing I didn't even have to ask about it. I am however surprised at the fact that you know the Kage-Bunshin and that you have such mastery over it." Naruto eyesmiled at the praise.

"Well, I've always had a large chakra pool." He started "It is so large that I have trouble making normal clones. I've had to master almost every chakra-control exercise that Konoha knows about to even be able to use it, and Genjutsu is almost a no-go for me." She nodded, slightly surprised at her newly appointed subordinate's humbleness.

"I see." She started "How many Kage-Bunshin can you create then?" Naruto went into a thinking pose, putting hand on his chin as he thought.

"Hmm, I don't really know." He answered "I've never actually tried to pump out a bunch of clones but I do make a few clones for writing seals that I need a lot of." Kasumi nodded once more in response.

" _Well, Seals doesn't really require that much chakra to make."_ She thought before saying "Alright, I will take the first watch. After me, Naruto will take the next, Azumi after that and Koto last. The intervals will be two hours each. Eat your meals and then try and get some rest, we're leaving at dawn tomorrow." The three genin nodded, before Azumi and Koto went to their respective tents. Naruto stayed behind though as he looked at Kasumi with an odd look.

"We have to talk, Kasumi-Senpai." He stated. She nodded as she sat down in front of the bonfire and was about to start the fire, but Naruto beat her to it as he lit it with a miniature fireball. She looked at him in surprise, only to get the same look as he had given her a few seconds ago. She sighed. She knew what the topic of this conversation would be.

"Kasumi-Senpai," he started "let me just start of by saying that I don't really care about the fact that you never visited me." Her sense of surprise only increased "I get why you never did. It must be hard for you, having to deal with everything that has happened around you the past few years." She narrowed her eyes, unnerved of the knowledge the boy had.

"What exactly do you mean by that, Naruto-san?" she asked.

"What I mean is, do you want to start over?" he asked. Her eyes widened slightly "I hold no animosity towards you. It's not possible for me." He lazily gazed into her widened eyes as he continued "Do you want to start over and be friends? I can see it in your eyes. You're lonely. You've tried your best to not grow attached to your genin because you fear that their outcome will be the same as either my parents or Akane. I don't want to see anyone like this, much less my mother's student."

She sighed. She knew what he was trying to do. He had heard about the boy's ability to get into someone's mind from the short time she had spent with Anko. Kasumi liked Anko, but didn't want to become anything more than a drinking friend as, like Naruto said, was afraid of forming bonds because of her past.

"Anko-chan was right about you..." she muttered as she looked into the bonfire. Naruto heard the statement and chuckled in amusement. She looked at the boy in front of her "You really do try and get into someone's mind, don't you? You're so much like your father, it's insane." The chuckle was turned into a full-blown laughter as he fell onto his back and howled in delight, earning a confused look from the teenager. "What is so funny, you little brat?" the laughter only increased ever so slightly from the question she had given him. After a few seconds he had gradually stopped and composed himself as he sat up again and looked at her with warm eyes.

"Yeah, sorry about that." He started with a chuckle "Can't really help it though as it in my nature to do it." She only nodded in response.

"It's alright." She said "But, why would you want to become friends with me?"

"Because like I said," he started his answer "I don't want to see people that I know are good fall into any kind of darkness. Two months ago, you almost went into a coma after an overdose." Her eyes turned into ones of sadness as he continued "You were once my mother's student and from her journal you were the closest thing she had to a daughter. That makes you family." She looked up at him and shock, unable to comprehend the statement "I definitely don't want to see family fall into darkness. It tears me apart." A tear formed in her right eye as she looked at him, torn between letting him in and not letting him in. Then, she smiled.

"Thank you, Naruto-kun." She said, chuckling "It's not that I didn't want to be there for you. But after a few years of not even visiting you, my fear of you denying me was what kept me from even visiting once. I was afraid that if you knew that I once was your mother's student, you would hate me for not being there for you during your first few years."

"I may have my father's way of thinking, but I still have my mother's heart." Naruto stated with an eyesmile, earning a chuckle from the teenage girl that sat on the other side of the bonfire. "I don't abandon people, especially not family. You of all people should know that."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right." She murmured into her arms. After a few seconds she looked at the boy once more and decided to change the subject. "So, you're Shunshin no Naruto, huh?" Naruto's eyes once more went into an eyesmile.

"Yeah, still don't know how the hell I ended up in Amegakure's Bingo-Book though." He answered "But at least now you know I'm not a pushover." She chuckled at the boy's joke. One of her eyebrows shot up as Naruto stood up and walked beside her sitting form before the other eyebrow equalized the other one as he pulled out a Tri-Pronged Kunai, complete with the Jutsu-Shiki that she had seen so many times. With the kunai in his hand, he reached towards hers and placed it in there. She looked at the kunai for a brief moment and then back into his eyes, slightly confused at the gesture.

"Why are you giving me this, Naruto-kun?" she asked. He smiled at her, though she clearly couldn't see it.

"I want you to have this, in case something happens." He answered before his curved up into the eyesmile once more "With that kunai, I'll always be there to help you in case you're in trouble." Her eyes widened as she realized what he was implying.

" _He can use the Hiraishin no Jutsu?!"_ she thought as she looked at the kunai in hand. "Y-you can use Hiraishin?" she hesitantly asked him.

"Yeah, I've known how to use it for quite some time now." He stated. The shock was evident in her eyes. Clearly she didn't believe that anyone would be able to recreate the Hiraishin no Jutsu after what happened to the Yondaime Hokage.

" _Is this one of the reasons as to why he's been taking C-rank missions from day one?"_ she thought as she eyed the boy next to her. _"The Hokage entrusted one of the most powerful techniques in Konoha's history to this boy. It's either that, or he found his father's research on the matter."_ She sighed, something didn't and up. "How skilled are you in fuinjutsu?" The boy in front of her chuckled again, confusing her even more.

"I'm not certified yet, but trust me when I say that I am a master in the art of seals." Was the answer he gave her, which caused her eyes to widen ever so slightly. _"I do not think I can give up all of my secrets to you just yet, Kasumi-nee."_

Deciding to change the subject once more as he sat down, he asked "So, you know Anko-neechan?" she nodded in response.

"Yeah, a few months back she was my drinking buddy." She stated. Naruto looked at her in surprise. Anko hadn't even touched alcohol during the time she had lived with him. "She was the one who convinced me to stop drinking after the overdose, with a little help from Azumi and Koto. I talked to her a couple of days ago over dango. It was the first time I've met her while she was sober, and she seemed... I don't know, happy?" Naruto nodded, now understanding what she meant.

" _She must've realized that she was going down the same path as Kasumi."_ He thought before he looked at her and said "I don't really know what she's did before she ran into me, but she hasn't touched alcohol during the time she's been living with me." She looked at him in surprise.

"Wait, really?" she asked. He nodded in response. "Huh, who would've thought that Anko-chan would sober up."

Naruto chuckled in response. "Heh, yeah. I'm honestly surprised you know her though. She hasn't talked about you at all."

"Well yeah, I told her not to talk about me because, well, our relationship is kind of frowned upon." She stated. He nodded slowly before his eyes widened as he realized what she implied.

"Wait, you two are together _together?!"_ he exclaimed. She chuckled at the boy's response before nodding. "Wait. Same-sex relationships aren't frowned upon though."

"Yeah, we saw each other in secret and covered it up as being drinking buddies." She responded "But the reason for our relationship being frowned upon isn't because of the gender part, it's because of who we are and what kind of status we have in the village." Naruto blushed as he scratched his back.

"Oh." Was all that Naruto said, kind of embarrassed at the little outburst. "It's because she's a traitor's former student and you're the student of the late Yondaime Hokage's wife." She nodded as his deduction was on spot.

"Yeah." She said. He nodded, considering everything.

"Well, as long as you're not using my bed or doing anything while I'm home," he started "I don't really care what the two of you do." Just as when she had thought she couldn't get any more surprised at the boy's kindness, she became just that. "Both of you deserve to be happy, with all of the shit that has happened to you." A tear of happiness fell from her eye as she nodded. She then threw herself onto him and hugged him, now filled with happiness.

"Thank you, Naruto-kun!" She exclaimed. It was then her students got out of their tents and looked at the two with slightly disturbed looks on their faces.

"Will the two of you be so kind and SHUT THE FUCK UP?!" said/half yelled the irritated Koto. Naruto chuckled as Kasumi looked towards them in slight embarrassment. "This isn't the way a jounin should act." She quickly broke the hug and stood up.

"Sorry, Koto-kun" she murmured. Koto sighed as he ran his hand through his hair.

"Way to ruin the moment..." muttered Naruto as he too stood up. No-one noticed it though and he sighed in relief.

"Well, at least you opened up to someone." He stated "and just like the blonde brat over there, we don't really care if you're romantically involved with Mitarashi-san." Azumi nodded in agreement before she smiled.

"But," she started, causing the jounin to grow slightly fearful at what her student would say "You're gonna have to introduce her to us, you know:"

Azumi sighed in relief. She had taught her students well enough for them to not care about social status. "Thank you." She muttered. Koto decided it would be a good time to mess with her as he put his hand around his ear and pointed it towards her.

"I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that." He stated. He gave her a look of deadpan before she shunshin'd over to him and wacked him on the head.

"Be grateful I thanked you the first time, brat!" she exclaimed, earning a chuckle from Naruto. She looked at him oddly before she sighed in dismay _"these brats will be too much for me to handle..."_ she thought. "Go to sleep, kids. We have a long day in front of us tomorrow." Her students nodded before they went to their respective tents to catch some shut eye.

* * *

 **One hour thirty minutes later, Raikage's office**

* * *

The Raikage looked out of his window, eyes gazing tiredly over Kumogakure. It had been a long day and he regretted sending Team Samui to Yu no Kuni to assassinate the 'Shunshin no Naruto'. He wouldn't however go back on the decision he had made and should they fail, then there was no telling what Konohagakure would do to retaliate. Best case scenario would be that they'd have to pay for what they did in currency. Worst case scenario, they'd start a war, a war they'd have a bigger chance of winning, with a Senkõ on their side. His train of thoughts were broken as the door once again opened. He looked towards it and saw Mabui standing there with another file.

"Is that an update on our spy in Konoha?" He asked, earning a nod from the young woman. She walked to him and handed the file, which he read silently.

" _They're onto me, Raikage-sama. I'm writing this letter to tell you that I won't make it out of this place alive and that I will probably be interrogated by the T &I department. I will most likely not be able to withstand their interrogation methods and I will be executed for espionage once the interrogation is over. I implore you to send another team as backup for the team that you sent, because there is no telling what Konoha will do should they learn of this action that you have taken, Raikage-sama._

 _Please tell my son Darui that I do not regret my decisions and that it is I who volunteered to become one of our spies for Konoha._

 _With Regards, Naora."_

The Raikage sighed. The spy was his ace's mother. Not only that, but she was certain that she would not make it out alive. _"This is bad... I can't tell her to commit suicide because if she found out, then Darui would hate me for the rest of his life because in his eyes, I would be the one with her blood on his hands."_

"Send an ANBU team to Team Samui to back them up." The Raikage stated as he looked at Mabui, who nodded her head "Konoha might get a wind of this ordeal so we do not know what actions they will take to secure their team."

"Hai, Raikage-sama!" she answered as she half-ran out of the office towards the ANBU-commander's office to do as ordered. When she was out, the Raikage sighed as he looked out the window.

"I'm gonna regret this decision..." he muttered, gaze with a hint of sadness hovering Kumogakure.

* * *

 **Thirty minutes later, Konohagakure Interrogation Chambers**

* * *

Anko stood in front of a middle-aged woman. The woman was sitting behind a table with her hands cuffed with a chakra-negating alloy and several suppression seals on her body. The woman was said to be a civilian but with a little observing one could clearly see that she was not. She held himself like a Shinobi, always ready to strike.

She had been seen by the hidden cameras in the Hokage Tower a few hours after the Team Kasumi's briefing, and had also been seen taking the file itself. No-one had noticed this, however, as it was too early in the morning and the man that had been on the camera detail had fallen asleep during his shift. Anko sighed in dismay, that man would be imprisoned for laziness.

Back to the woman in front of her. Anko had just gotten into the room and she could see that the woman did not fear her. It almost made her chuckle, as the woman in front of her had no idea what she was going to do to her for putting her younger brother in a potentially dangerous situation.

"Hello, Naora-san." She started as she took out her profile from the portfolio she had in her hand. "Do you know why you are here?" Naora shook her head.

"No, I do not, Kunoichi-san." Was the answer that Anko got from the middle-aged woman. Anko threw a KI-enhanced glare, making the woman visibly cringe.

"You are here because you have stolen a mission-file from today's mission portfolio." Stated Anko as she took out a kunai from her poach on the leg, a sadistic smile donned her face. "You can either tell us what you know-" she interrupted herself as she flicked the kunai and disappeared from view, only to appear behind the woman catching the kunai and drawing some blood from the woman's cheek "-Or you can resist and be tortured for days, until we go into your mind and forcibly take the information we need. Right here, and right now, you are mine to do whatever I want to."

Naora's eyes had widened as she had felt the blood sip down from the shallow wound on her cheek. She shuddered with a hint of fear as the sadistic voice of Mitarashi Anko echoed throughout the whole room.

"I-I'll tell you everything..." said the middle-aged woman.

Anko's sadistic smile faltered slightly. _"Damn, I really wanted to torture this bitch."_ She thought, sighing in dismay. She went back to the other side of the table before she pulled out the chair and sat on it, folding her right leg over the left.

"So, why did you stole the file?" Anko asked.

"I stole it because I believed it was in the best interest of my master." Was the answer Naora gave. Anko's eyes narrowed as she looked at the woman in front of her.

"Who is your master?" was the second question she gave.

"I-it's the Yondaime Raikage." She answered. Anko's eyes widened as Naora's mouth curved into a smile. "He has sent two teams to assassinate Uzumaki Naru- AHHHH!" Naora screamed out in agony as she was interrupted when a kunai was embedded into her shoulder. "What?!" she panted "You said that you'd only torture me if I resisted!" She looked into Anko's eyes, fear increasing as she finally figured that she had made a mistake.

"I changed my mind." Said the teenager in the room as the air pressure went sky-high. "You will die a slow and painful death."

* * *

 **Two hours later**

* * *

Anko walked out of the interrogation room, soaked in blood. It wasn't her blood; it was Naora's. She had been torturing the middle-aged woman out of hatred to get revenge on the woman for putting her little brother and her potential love interest in a situation where they could die. She had killed the woman after torturing her for two full hours, not stopping to catch a breath. She was visibly exhausted, and the blood-covered body of hers didn't make it any better.

She turned to her right and saw the Hokage stand there, eyebrows raised. It was pretty evident that he was surprised to see her in this condition. "It's not my blood." She stated.

"So it would seem." The Hokage hummed as he looked into the room. "Did you get any information out of her?" He looked back at Anko as she nodded in response.

"Hai." She started "She worked for Kumogakure and sent the information about the mission to the Raikage. During the... _interrogation_ she stated that Kumo have already sent three jounin to assassinate Naruto and if they could, they would assassinate Kasumi as well. She also said that her son, Darui, was on one of the teams the Raikage had sent on the assassination squad." The Hokage sighed as he heard the last part, confirming his previous fear.

"I see." He stated "I will send word for Jiraiya. I will send him along with a squad of ANBU to back the team up. Hopefully they will make it in time." She nodded, before opening her mouth but was interrupted by Hiruzen "Go home and rest, Anko-chan. You have done a good job here today. I will send someone to clean up the mess that you left in there. May I ask though, is she still alive?" Anko's opened mouth closed in an instant before she shook her head.

"No, she succumbed to the pain and died before I could get anything more out of her." Answered the teenage girl. The old man nodded before Anko bowed to him. "I will take my leave now, Hokage-sama."

"Go ahead. Take a shower and get some rest." He said as she walked away from the leader of her village. Hiruzen once again looked into the blood-covered room and thought _"This could've been avoided had the Raikage not been so much of a hard-headed bastard."_ He then turned around and walked towards the exit to make his way to the Hokage Tower. _"If it's a war he wants, then I'm gonna be the one deny him what he wants."_

* * *

 **AN:** Sup you beautiful bastards! I hope you enjoyed this chapter because it sure was fun to write. I decided to actually not write the torture part because, well, I don't really know if I could write it. I'm not the best at writing things like that (might do it in the future though). Oh, and I've already written the "big fight" in this little arc and I really like it. it's really fast paced though.

Now, a couple of months ago or so, one of you guys pointed out that this fanfiction was alot like Neo Yondaime Hokage, and I agree. It is actually one of my inspirations of writing this fanfiction, as well as one of my favourite fanfictions of all time. However, what Psycho G wrote was something that still boggles my mind. he had predicted several things that the manga hadn't even brought up yet, let alone the anime, so he kind of foreshadowed the canon story several years before it even became a thing. I suggest you read said fanfiction because it is a really good fanfiction that this fanfic shares alot of things with and I believe that Psycho G did a much better job than I did. That doesnt mean im gonna quit writing this fanfiction because I've got several things already planned out for it so, yeah, expect more chapters coming from me in the future! :D

Anyway, leave a review and tell me what you think and I shall read them as I continue to write this story because I'm writing this at 8.45pm and I have no plans on sleeping in the next couple of hours, so I'll most likely continue with writing the next chapter and we'll see how far I get, aiight? ^^, Have an awesome sunday and I'll catch you guys in the next chapter!


	13. Chapter 12

**AN:** Hi everyone! It's been a while hasn't it? Yeah, well the truth is, I got absolutely nothing that would justify my laziness.

I would say that it's because I've now got a job or some shit like that, but that still doesn't justify the fact that I've spent so much time writing **PARTS** of chapters, but haven't completed them, when I know I have the material and everything else written down for it. *sigh* Oh well, I hope you guys can forgive my laziness and enjoy this chapter of Namikaze because it was kinda fun to write, even if it is kind of short!

 **N** **amikaze**

 **Chapter 12**

The sun was rising and the birds were chippering. Team Kasumi were currently packing their camping gear as they prepared to move. It was eight in the morning and they had just eaten breakfast. Unlike his fellow genin on the team, Naruto functioned perfectly fine with only four hours of sleep, and he thought it had something to do with the Kyuubi being stuck inside of his gut.

He sighed as he folded the tent in his arms. _"I have a bad feeling about this mission..."_ he thought before he sealed the now folded tent into one of the many sealing scrolls he had in his vest. _"Why do I get the feeling that something is gonna go horribly wrong?"_

He shook his head to keep himself from thinking these negative thoughts as he turned towards his team who were just done with packing as well. He had given them a few sealing scrolls so that they wouldn't have to walk around with backpacks, which they gladly had accepted.

"Alright, let's move out." Voiced the leader of the team. The genin nodded before they all jumped up towards the trees. "Naruto-kun, I heard from the Hokage that you're proficient in Kanchi no Jutsu. How proficient are you, exactly?"

"It is not as much of a Kanchi no Jutsu as it is a passive sensory ability of mine." He responded "As long as I am awake, I can sense anyone within 25 yards. With Kanchi no Jutsu, I can quadruple the radius of my sensory field." Kasumi nodded in response. Her older students however looked at the boy in wonder.

" _Amazing."_ They both thought.

Naruto abruptly stopped jumping, which caused the other three to stop. They looked at him, wondering why. "What is it, Naruto-san?" Azumi asked. The blonde masked boy simply ignored her and turned.

"You may as well come out from the shadows, Inu-senpai, Tenzo-senpai, Neko-senpai." He said, as if someone was there.

Suddenly, three ANBU appeared in a blur, Kakashi in the lead. "Naruto-san, we are here to deliver a message: Clouds are approaching, lightning may strike, leaves may fall." Naruto's eyes widened slightly, as well as Kasumi's.

" _ANBU code: Kumogakure against us, they're most likely after you, mission compromised."_ He thought before he responded "Yes, the wind is picking up. We will proceed with caution."

" _ANBU code: Affirmative, we will proceed as ordered. Assist us if needed."_ Kakashi thought. _"He really has his father's memories. These were the codes that he personally wrote, only months prior to his demise. Only a handful of people know these codes as it is."_ Kakashi nodded.

"Affirmative. We'll be your shadows." He whispered as all three of the ANBU disappeared in the same manner as they appeared in. Naruto turned back towards his team and groaned as he saw their confused faces.

"What the hell was that?" Koto asked.

"Classified." Naruto responded coolly "I'll explain when we get to the Daimyo's residence." All three nodded, reserving their questions for later. They proceeded to continue jumping from tree to tree with Kakashi and his team shadowing them.

* * *

"Hiruzen, we have to recall them." Voiced an old woman. The Hokage was sitting in the small council chambers that as of this moment harbored four people: Hiruzen, Danzo, Homura and Koharu. The topic of this meeting was simple: Team Kasumi's mission.

"No, I do not believe that it is necessary, Koharu." Responded the old Hokage "I've sent Team Alpha, formerly known as Team Ro to assist them, should they encounter the Kumo shinobi. Besides, Naruto-kun is far more formidable than what you guys might expect from a child of his age." The three advisors frowned, not liking the idea of an eight-year old being able go toe to toe with jounin and alike.

"Are you insinuating that Uzumaki Naruto is capable of fighting jounin?" asked the War-Hawk, earning a nod from the village's leader. Danzo's eyes narrowed as he gazed upon his old teammate. "How, exactly, is he capable of fighting shinobi of such caliber? He's nothing but a child." The Hokage hummed for a few seconds in thought.

"You've heard about his little run-in with Itachi, correct?" He finally answered, albeit with his own question. The trio in front of him nodded before he continued "Well, he's in on one of the darkest secrets this village has. From what I understand from Itachi, Naruto may be the most powerful shinobi we've ever produced, or at least has the potential to be one."

The trio narrowed their eyes in suspicion "What is that supposed to mean?" Homura asked.

"After the incident, Itachi approached me in secret to personally give me an update on his current mission." The Hokage said "He told me that when he fought Naruto, he could see that the young boy was holding back quite a lot. So much, in fact, that he's afraid of him." The trio's eyes widened slightly.

"But Naruto barely escaped the fight alive!" Koharu retorted "How is he able to go toe to toe with Itachi if he can't even keep up with him?" The Hokage chuckled.

"From what I understand, there were several unrecognizable chakra-sources around the clearing that they fought." He answered "Because of this, he did not believe that he could go all out in fear of what might happen if these people were not from the village. We now understand that the precaution he took that almost ended his life three weeks ago was not in vain, as he is now under an assassination threat from Kumogakure. However, they were able to get some vital information before they sent the squad out, as you have heard from the T&I department's report on the interrogation of the Kumo infiltrator."

"What kind of vital information?" Homura asked "After all, this is a genin we're talking about. Yes, he's an Uzumaki, but that doesn't change the fact that he is a genin. An eight-year-old genin." The old leader sighed.

" _I'm sorry, Naruto. They're pushing me to a corner."_ Hiruzen thought before saying "They found out that Uzumaki Naruto is capable of using Hiraishin no Jutsu."

His advisor's eyes widened slightly. There had been rumors about the boy being able to use Hiraishin, but no-one had been able to confirm it.

"Are you absolutely sure that he is able to use Hiraishin?" asked the old War Hawk from across the table, sole eye narrowed at his former teammate. Hiruzen nodded in confirmation.

"Yes." Was the answer that was given, before Hiruzen pulled out a tri-prong kunai from his robes. "This is Naruto's kunai. He told me that he had recently purchased several of these, but never said how many. I can only speculate that he himself is getting ready for war. Why though, I do not know."

"War?" Danzo asked, earning another node from Hiruzen. "Why would he be getting ready for something like that?"

"I don't know." Said the Hokage with a sigh "I do not know what he is thinking, as he is the most unpredictable child I have ever laid my old eyes on."

"This doesn't explain why we shouldn't recall them though, Hiruzen." Homura said "Even if he's capable of standing up against a jounin, that doesn't change the fact that he is a child without experience. He may have ninjutsu and fuinjutsu that are powerful, but what good is it when you do not have the experience necessary to use it appropriately during a battle?"

"Hmm, yes that is a sound argument." Responded the Hokage "But I do believe that Naruto has more things up in his sleeves that even I do not know about. He knows many things, like how the ANBU operates and alike. He knows many things he is not supposed to know, one such secret being the truth behind the Uchiha incident."

Danzo's mind started racing. He did not want to know what would happen should Naruto step forward with the knowledge he has. _"If he knows the entire truth about the incident, he may pose as a problem for me. Just the knowledge of Shisui's eye would make him a threat to the Foundation."_

"What exactly does he know?" he asked.

"That, I cannot answer. It is not within my knowledge." Answered the Hokage.

"I see." Said he old War Hawk "Does he know about the Bijuu that resides within him?"

"Yes, he does." Hiruzen answered "From what Inu has reported, Naruto has merely spoken to the beast, mostly just banter between them."

"Do you believe that the beast is capable of causing some influence on the host?" Homura asked.

"No, I do not believe so." The old Hokage responded "Naruto does not channel its chakra, nor does he want to after what happened three years ago." The trio in front of him hummed in thought before they nodded silently in response. They then stood up, all three gazing towards their leader.

"Keep us informed if you can, Hiruzen." Said Homura "We need to be prepared for everything." And with that the trio left the room. The God of Shinobi sighed once more, tiredly, as he looked out the window.

" _I hope you come back alive from this mission, Naruto-kun."_

* * *

Anko sat there in the apartment, wide eyed. She was not one of superstition, but when a cup is just resting there on the table, and suddenly cracks, something is wrong. That was what just had happened. Frozen, unable to formulate words, she sat there as she tried to comprehend what happened.

But she just couldn't.

All logic had gone out the window. A cup should never just crack into pieces without any force.

 _So why did it happen?!_

" _No..."_ she thought as her hands went up to cover her mouth as tears went down her cheeks. _"This can't be happening! Is something gonna happen to Naruto-kun?"_ shaking, she brought her body to a standing position and ran outside of the apartment, speeding towards the Hokage tower.

* * *

Team Kasumi were currently walking on the only road that led to their destination. It was late at night and windy outside, uncommon for the land they currently were in. The team of four had decided to abandon the trees and walk for the rest of the journey, which was a kilometre.

Naruto had a lot on his mind. It was understandable considering he was being targeted and while he knew that he would probably be able to survive and escape, maybe even beat the potential assailants, he knew that if his team was in the vicinity of the fight it would not end well.

"Naruto, keep your senses sharp." He heard coming from Kasumi, interrupting his thoughts. He looked up and saw that they were closing in on the Daimyo's palace. _"Hmm, seen bigger."_ He thought in amusement. _"It's still around 200 meters to the entrance, better keep my senses up."_

"Hai, Kasumi-senpai." He answered as he focused on his sensory abilities. Eyes widened as he suddenly felt a surge of chakra coming their way.

"SCATTER!" yelled their team leader. The team did as she ordered and disappeared from the main road. Not a second later, a huge boulder crashed down on the spot they had previously been on.

Up in the trees, Naruto stood in a crouching position. tri-prong kunai in hand, he tried to pinpoint the assailant(s) with the use of Kanchi no Jutsu. _"There!"_ he thought as he pulled out a few shuriken from his pouch and threw them towards a brush 50 meters from his location.

As they hit the brush, three blurs came out of it and landed on the road. _"Iwagakure? What are they doing here?!"_ he thought _"How did they get passed Hi no Kuni's border?"_ he quickly teleported to Kasumi's location with the use of Hiraishin.

"Senpai, where's Koto and Azumi?" he whispered as he arrived. If she was surprised, she didn't show it.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are..." he heard them say, forcing him to supress a chuckle. Kasumi, however, frowned.

"I have no idea..." she answered back, looking back at the three men on the road. Naruto was about to activate his Kanchi no Jutsu when five more figures came out of the woods.

" _Shit!"_ they both thought as their eyes widened. In front of three Iwagakure ninja were their two missing teammates.

" _Team Ro."_ Naruto signed in ANBU code _"Stand down, I'll deal with this."_ Kasumi nodded at him as he put his kunai back into the pouch and disappeared in a Shunshin.

* * *

" _Why can't things ever be easy?"_ was the thought that went through Darui's mind. They had been watching their target's team from afar and was about to strike when the boulder crashed down.

"Looks like Iwagakure beat us to the fray." Came Samui's voice from his left. "Is that Deidara, the Explosive Prodigy?"

"Seems like it is. Wonder if the Uzumaki brat will be able to take all six of them on." Answered C. Darui merely nodded.

"That's a good question. Let's observe the fight." Answered Samui. "C'mon, let's get a little bit closer." Darui and C nodded as they carefully moved closer.

* * *

"Do ya think any of them will show up, Ryosei no Danna?" asked one of the Iwagakure shinobi. This young man had long, blonde hair put up into a pony tail and was wearing a standard Iwagakure outfit, complete with a flak jacket, signalling he was at least of chuunin rank. The man now known as Ryosei merely shrugged as he kept looking around for any sign of the ninja.

"I don't really care, Deidara. Either way, Konoha blood will be shed today." He answered with a somewhat crazed look in his eyes, still looking around for the enemy nin. Deidara smirked as he thought _"Finally I might get to play with my-"_ his thoughts were interrupted as a small spiky-haired blonde boy appeared in front of them.

"You called?" asked the little boy nonchalantly. Deidara's eyes narrowed in irritation at the sight of the blonde boy, until they widened, along with the rest of his teammates' eyes. _"Shunshin no Naruto?! What is he doing here?"_

"Leave this country and we will leave you and your teammates alive, Naruto-san." Came the voice of Ryosei. Naruto's eyes went upwards into a curve, irritating them even more.

"Nah, not gonna happen, Iwa-nin." He said, then quickly drew a tri-prong kunai from his poach and threw it at the man holding his teammates. Naruto then disappeared, only to reappeared mid-air and caught the kunai before landing with his right foot in the man's face. While still being mid-air, he quickly touched his two teammates, and they vanished from the spot they stood at. _"And there went a quarter of my chakra."_ Naruto thought as he sighed in slight exhaustion. _"I seriously need to find a way to fix the chakra usage for Hiraishin: Gyaku Dõ."_

Eyes widened, Deidara and Ryosei quickly regained their posture and went through hand-seals. "Doton: Doryuusou!" they yelled in unison. Naruto quickly jumped up in the air, narrowly dodging the earth-spikes that came from the ground. One of the Iwagakure nin appeared right next to him, ready to swing his katana at the boy. Naruto turned just in time to see the katana coming down on him and quickly parried it with his kunai, sending him flying down towards the ground.

As he landed, he skidded across the ground before managing to regain his poster and stopped himself with his feet. Crouched on the ground, he looked up.

"Doton: Doryuudan no Jutsu!" he heard them yell as four dragonheads made out of earth emerged from the ground. The dragons then released a barrage of mud-projectiles that flew towards Naruto at high speeds. Thinking quickly, Naruto used Hiraishin to escape the situation and teleported to the kunai he had given to Kasumi.

"Kasumi-senpai." He whispered as he appeared next to her and the two other genin, that he teleported away from the fight. She turned to him and nodded in acknowledgement.

"Good work, Naruto-kun." She whispered. She then signed towards Team Ro _"Need to formulate a plan, we can't let these men roam freely here while we're on a mission. Regroup with us."_ Not a moment later, the ANBU trio appeared on the branch diagonally above them.

"Kasumi-san." Inu whispered "We're at a disadvantage." She nodded, thinking of a way to survive this without having her genin die. Meanwhile, Naruto went through his inventory and started to formulate a plan in his head.

" _Okay, I've got a scroll with Hiraishin marked Kunai, five tri-prong kunai in my pouch, twenty shuriken and around 70% of my chakra left."_ he thought. "I may have a plan, Kasumi-senpai." He said "But you're probably not going to like it." She frowned at those words, not liking how they were formulated.

"What kind of plan is it?" she asked.

"The blonde teen in that Iwagakure squad is Deidara the Explosive Prodigy." He stated. All of Team Ro's eyes widened slightly under their masks. "He's probably strong enough to hold us all alone. We cannot take any chances with him. I suggest pitting me against him as I've got the speed to avoid his- SCATTER!" he yelled, forcing all of them to jump away from the tree that they stood on. Moments later the whole treeline exploded.

* * *

Team Samui currently sat approximately forty meters away from the battle. They were impressed by their target's skill. The boy had efficiently saved his teammates and avoided death several times with only one technique. It was also quite disturbing to see the little child hold his own against what they believed to be four chuunin and two jounin.

"If they survive this fight, we can't underestimate Naruto." C surmised. His teammates nodded as they continued to observe skirmish.

"Naruto's proficiency with the Hiraishin is quite high, don't you think?" Samui asked her teammates. "I do not believe the Yondaime Hokage was able to teleport people separately like that." They then saw Naruto teleport away from the mud projectiles coming from the earth dragons.

"No, I don't believe he was able to do that either, Samui-Taichou." Darui answered. _"So far, we've only seen his natural speed and his Hiraishin no Jutsu. Is that all he can do?"_ he thought as he continued to observe the fight. The blonde from the Iwagakure squad had just created a clay bird that he now stood on, before he flew up into the air with it. He then scattered more clay in the form of small spiders, something that only C was able to pick up. Then, the whole treeline blew up.

"Well, that happened." Said Darui with a sigh, earning nods from his teammates. "Does this mean that our mission either failed or succeeded? I've never had this happen to me before." Samui shook her head as she pointed towards the debris that was left after the explosion.

"I don't think they're dead, Darui." She answered "Just watch." With that said, over two hundred shuriken flew out from the smoke. They widened their eyes as they realized: they were in the area of effect. "Let's get out of here!" she quickly said as they shunshin'd away from the fight.

After running for a few hundred meters they stopped. "Well, I think we can agree on that the mission isn't over." Said Samui as her team nodded. "C'mon, let's go to the rebel camp and work out the politics for the temporary alliance." They once again nodded as they continued their running towards said camp.

* * *

Naruto sat in a crouching position behind a tree, pulling out splinters from his body. While doing so, he comically muttered out curses about explosives.

"That's it, no more Mr. Nice Guy -tebayo..." Muttered Naruto, irritated at Deidara's explosives. He activated Kanchi no Jutsu and sighed in relief as he felt all of his teammates' signatures, alive but unconscious. Team Ro on the other hand were conscious, treating their wounds. He then sensed three more chakra sources, further away from the fight, merely observing them. _"Kumo-nin?"_ he thought, a frown creeping up his face.

"Fuck it." He exclaimed as he created a Kage-Bunshin, that in turn created three more. He then threw the storage scroll that held his Hiraishin kunai to one of them, and they unsealed the kunai.

"I've had it with these fucking Iwa nin attacking us." He muttered as he pulled out five shuriken from his pouch. He then looked up towards the sky and saw a white bird. _"Deidara is up there on that bird, giving support to the rest of his squad."_ He thought as he, along with his clones, threw the shuriken and five kunai, one for each grounded iwa-nin.

The kunai went upwards, intended to arc downwards towards the road, while the shuriken went straight for the Iwagakure nin. As they came out of the thin smoke, they multiplied by forty, effectively becoming two hundred shuriken sailing in the air towards their targets.

* * *

"Be ready for anything!" Ryosei exclaimed "That might've killed the two brats, but Shunshin no Naruto and Konoha no Arashi most likely didn't. Keep your senses sha-" He was interrupted as he saw the barrage of shuriken emerge from the smoke. "INCOMING!" all of the grounded Iwa nin quickly went through the same hand seals in unison.

"Doton: Doryuu heki!" they all exclaimed, and five earth walls emerged from the ground, stopping the shuriken from hitting them. They sighed in relief before one of them looked up towards the sky and saw kunai coming towards them.

"INCOMING!" they heard the voice of Deidara, but it was too late. The kunai landed next to all of them, not harming anyone. Ryosei sighed in relief before he looked at one of the kunai that had landed next to him. His eyes widened as he felt a force colliding with his head before his world went dark.

* * *

As the kunai arced down, Naruto and his Kage-Bunshin readied themselves for teleportation. They each had a single target to take down and even if the Kage-Bunshin didn't, he'd be ready to teleport up to four times more.

" _This should work out."_ He thought as he heard the shuriken hit the earthen walls. "Get ready." He told his four clones. Each one of them nodded and readied themselves for teleportation by charging up a Rasengan.

"Now!" the original exclaimed, and so they teleported to their designated kunai, Rasengan in hand and pushed it into their targets, forcing them into the earth walls effectively destroying them and sending the now dead Iwagakure nin sailing. As soon as they were sent flying, the clones dissipated and Naruto turned his gaze towards the flying bomber up in the air: Deidara.

"Hmm, that was quite a display, gaki." He heard from the flying blonde say as he snickered "But do you really think you can take me on? You're exhausted and out of luck." The last part confused Naruto, so he quickly scanned the area for chakra.

"Ahh fuck..." he tiredly said as quickly Shunshin'd away from the road, narrowly dodging the explosion that was set for him.

"Damn, missed again..." Muttered the older blonde before he started to release small spiders once more in the form of carpet-bombing.

" _Fuck, gotta do something about his fucking bird!"_ Naruto thought before he saw Kasumi at the treeline, holding his Tri-prong Kunai. He charged up a Rasengan, getting ready to strike. She nodded towards him, signalling that she was ready.

* * *

"Inu-Taichou, Neko-kouhai needs medical attention." Said Tenzo. Kakashi merely nodded before he was alerted by movement next to him. He turned and saw Kasumi and her two students, unconscious but no lethal wounds. He sighed in relief.

"Kasumi-san." He said with a nod towards her, which she mimicked.

"Inu-senpai, I'm leaving these two with you." She said "I'm gonna go and look for my third stud-" She was cut off as she heard something squishy crash into a tree. She turned around and saw one of the Iwa-nin, dead. Deadpanning, she turned back to Team Ro.

"Never mind, I think he's alright..." She said "I'll go and assist him, please look after my students." Kakashi nodded, but before Kasumi could make her way towards Naruto, she saw an explosion once more. Sighing, she quickly ran out of the treeline and saw Naruto being chased by exploding spiders. She took out her kunai and held it so that Naruto would see it, should he see her. Which he did. She then saw him charge up the Rasengan. _"That's my signal!"_ she thought.

Nodding towards him, she aimed the kunai towards the flying blonde before throwing it towards him. It glanced him and drew blood on his chin. Naruto appeared mid-air, catching the kunai in a turning motion with a Rasengan in the other hand.

* * *

"RASENGAN!" Came the scream from Naruto as he struck Deidara with his Rasengan, sending him crashing into the ground. Naruto then threw the kunai towards Deidara and charged up a Rasengan mid-air while falling. As the kunai landed next to him, Naruto re-appeared right above Deidara and crashed the next Rasengan into his stomach. When that was over, Naruto jumped back a few meters to assess the situation. His eyes narrowed as he saw the crater he had created.

In it, an Iwa-Bunshin resided. Scanning his environment, he realized that what he had been fighting had been a clone. A strong one at that. _"This Deidara guy is really strong if a mere clone can do something like that."_ He continued to scan the environment. He then looked towards the palace and widened his eyes. Running towards him were Yu no Kuni's Daimyo Guard Squadron.

Above them was a huge amount explosive clay sailing down towards them. "ART IS A BLAST! HAHAHAHAH!" he heard Deidara yell as the clay formation pick up speed.

" _Shit!"_ he thought _"I'm not gonna make it!"_ He mustered up all of the chakra he could for a Shunshin, but realized that there wasn't enough. Then, the world froze.

" **Heheheh... just say the word and I'll give you some of mine."** Came the voice of Kyuubi. In what he thought was several seconds, went in a heartbeat. Running through every single scenario in his mind, Naruto realized that the only way to actually save the guards, and everyone else in the vicinity, was to use the Kyuubi's chakra.

" _Do it."_ Was his answer. Time unfroze, and Naruto's eyes turned red and disappeared.

"KATSU!" Yelled the older blonde from above, and the clay exploded…

…

…

…

…

…

Only to be absorbed by a hole in space and time.

Naruto stood there, in the middle of the guards holding a kunai as space and time itself vibrated.

"Hiraishin: Dõrai!" he exclaimed as the flames of the explosion continued to be sucked into the hole, rather, the space/time barrier that Naruto was currently funnelling all of the remaining Bijuu chakra into.

Deidara watched with wide eyes as his ultimate technique, the C3, be sucked into nothing. _"This can't be happening!"_ he thought in panic _"What the fuck is this brat?!"_

As the explosion had been negated, Naruto stumbled onto one knee, panting in exhaustion. "Kakashi-nii, Kasumi-nee, he's all yours..." he mumbled before he let go and crashed into the ground.

* * *

 **AN: Well then, there's that. Again, sorry for the time it took to release this chapter. If theres one thing I've learned, it's that I'm really flippin' bad at keeping time etc.**

 **Oh well, I guess we'll see eachothe next time, aiight?**


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